Glad to see she faces some serious time. A classic grifter. You have to be intelligent and bold to pull off some of this stuff. The fact that the jury only deliberated for fifteen minutes indicates there is probably more to this story.

A 41-year-old Slidell woman faces up to 10 years in prison after being convicted of stealing another woman's identity via social media and using fake credentials to obtain a high paying job at the spice company founded by the late entrepreneur Al Copeland.

Cindy T. White, who was found guilty this week by a St. Tammany Parish jury of theft of identity over $1,000, will be sentenced Tuesday (April 24) by Judge Scott Gardner of the 22nd Judicial District, North Shore District Attorney Warren Montgomery's office reported.

During her opening statement in White's trial, Assistant District Attorney Casey Dieck described the credentials that White had listed on her resume, including a bachelor's degree from Tulane University and a master's degree from Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Pointing to the defendant in the courtroom, Dieck said, "That's not this person. This person stole the victim's hard work and used it to get a six-figure salary and benefits to boot," the District Attorney's Office reported in a news release issued Friday.

The crime came to light in April of 2016 when a Diversified Foods employee contacted the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office regarding White, who had provided a resume with fraudulent social security and driver's license numbers to obtain an executive level job. White had been hired in September 2015 as a human resources manager at the company's Covington office at a salary of $95,000 per year. Five months later, she was promoted to senior human resources director and her annual pay was raised to $105,000, the District Attorney's Office reported.

Company officials became suspicious when White had trouble "performing duties within the educational level and experience listed on her resume" and when she began delegating many tasks assigned to her, according to the DA's news release.

After a closer inspection of White's personnel file, investigators found several discrepancies and determined that White did not possess the educational background listed on her resume. The investigation revealed that she had copied the credentials directly from the Linked In account of someone with a similar name and had obtained that woman's Social Security and driver's license numbers through an unspecified online site, Montgomery's office reported.

When authorities traced White's actual Social Security number, they learned she had been arrested in New Orleans in February 1997 for theft, forgery and malfeasance in office. At the time, White worked for the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office and was accused of assuming a co-worker's identity and emptying the victim's bank account, before being identified by surveillance photos, according to the news release.

White pleaded guilty to two counts of forgery on Sept. 27, 1997, and was placed on probation. But court records indicate her probation was terminated in 1999 because the court received information that she was deceased. White also had pleaded guilty in Jefferson Parish to attempted theft of goods on December 4, 1998, authorities said.

Between October 9, 2015, and May 6, 2016, White fraudulently collected $56,209 in salary from Diversified Foods, which was founded in 1984 by Copeland, Sr., founder of Popeyes Fried Chicken. White admitted in a statement to investigators that she fraudulently used the victim's educational experience and Social Security number to get the job. But her defense attorney argued during the trial that she actually earned the salary. Contradicting the defense's argument, Dieck said: "We have here a defendant who admits to stealing to cover up the fact that she's a convicted thief."

Jurors deliberated just 15 minutes before returning the guilty verdict on Wednesday.

The case was investigated by St. Tammany Detective Stefan Montgomery and Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Brian Grayson. Assistant District Attorney Butch Wilson assisted Dieck in prosecuting.

LINK:http://www.nola.com/northshore/index.ssf/2018/04/slidell_woman_used_stolen_id_t.html

She's definitely a pro at it. Delegated tasks as to not let her superiors know she was incompetent at everything. The courts received information she was deceased. I bet she faked her death. Talk about a professional con artist.

If she had only used this much effort into actually educating herself and getting hired, she would have made a pretty good living for herself. It's amazing the lengths a criminal will go to in order to deceive others when they could've just done the right thing and lived a clean life successfully.

I worked for a company that hired an engineer. He worked for three years on a variety of projects, including a major overhaul of a power plant.
After turning in a pool vehicle with an empty wine bottle in the back seat, along with the wine stains on the carpet, he was called in and put on probation.
About six months later he was perp walked off the property. No engineering degree, but he did work as a maintenance guy on a submarine.
Company charged him with fraud.

Let's all meet her, shall we?



https://www.b985.com/news/nati...WiRJIG7ulfX9yPqCYSP/

quote:

Five months later, she was promoted to senior human resources director and her annual pay was raised to $105,000

If unqualified- How'd she get promoted?

quote:

Jurors deliberated just 15 minutes before returning the guilty verdict on Wednesday.

That's righteous.

Jury Foreman - "We'll what are y'all doing this weekend? Because if we come back in 5 minutes it'll look bad..."

It took a private company 5 months and a promotion to figure out she didn't know what she was doing...

...she should have scammed her way into a federal job, no way they would have found out before she was getting pension checks!

Her un-doing was accepting the promotion. I bet she could have stayed at that $95k/yr HR level with a manager telling her what to do indefinitely. Good riddance.

quote:

Originally posted by braillediver:

quote:

Five months later, she was promoted to senior human resources director and her annual pay was raised to $105,000

If unqualified- How'd she get promoted?

If it's how I usually see it work, she probably back-stabbed her superior, and advanced through attrition.

Smart. Picked a job in HR which likely had access to all sorts of 'usable' information from employee files.

Penalties for identity theft need to be much more severe. 10 years is a joke. With time off for good behavior and overcrowded prison conditions - she will be stealing identities and grifting again in 3-4 years.

Okay, I'm curious.....

Identity theft is a crime. You can go to jail for it. Check.

Falsifying your resume will get you fired. Not really a crime (though I suppose that might depend on the job), but you are out a job if caught. Check.

How is her collecting a paycheck while working (or not) a crime? Seems like that's a matter between employer and employee, unless she was stealing PII and selling it or some other actual crime.

quote:

Originally posted by AllenInWV:
Okay, I'm curious.....

Identity theft is a crime. You can go to jail for it. Check.

Falsifying your resume will get you fired. Not really a crime (though I suppose that might depend on the job), but you are out a job if caught. Check.

How is her collecting a paycheck while working (or not) a crime? Seems like that's a matter between employer and employee, unless she was stealing PII and selling it or some other actual crime.

Because she stole an identity and SSN and used that ID to get the job. Her crime enabled the theft of salary from the employer.

However, if she just lied on a resume using her own identity that wouldn't be a crime. That would be a case of caveat emptor with pre-employment background checks.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
A classic grifter. You have to be intelligent and bold to pull off some of this stuff.

Bwahahahaha!!! Give me a break! They caught her because she was unqualified for human resources. She ain’t that good of a grifter as that’s a really darn low bar as 90% of HR personnel aren’t smart, ambitious, or competent enough to work for the TSA. Heck, the department title contains two lies - (1) human (2) resource.

quote:

quote:
Jurors deliberated just 15 minutes before returning the guilty verdict on Wednesday.

I suspect there was a long walk to the jury room.

quote:

Originally posted by Icabod:

quote:

quote:
Jurors deliberated just 15 minutes before returning the guilty verdict on Wednesday.

I suspect there was a long walk to the jury room.

The bailiff spent 14 minutes taking the jurors' orders for lunch.

quote:

Bwahahahaha!!! Give me a break! They caught her because she was unqualified for human resources. She ain’t that good of a grifter as that’s a really darn low bar as 90% of HR personnel aren’t smart, ambitious, or competent enough to work for the TSA. Heck, the department title contains two lies - (1) human (2) resource.

I am not saying that you will find a Mensa card in her purse, perhaps the better term would be reourceful. Certainly she is not Frank William Abagnale.

quote:

Originally posted by AllenInWV:
Okay, I'm curious.....

Identity theft is a crime. You can go to jail for it. Check.

Falsifying your resume will get you fired. Not really a crime (though I suppose that might depend on the job), but you are out a job if caught. Check.

How is her collecting a paycheck while working (or not) a crime? Seems like that's a matter between employer and employee, unless she was stealing PII and selling it or some other actual crime.

Theft by deception.

quote:

Originally posted by braillediver:

quote:

Five months later, she was promoted to senior human resources director and her annual pay was raised to $105,000

If unqualified- How'd she get promoted?

For the same reason many are hired/promoted: EO.

She checks off at least two boxes for the employer being a black female. If she were also gay and vegan, that would've been even better.

A masters degree from hebrew University in Jerusalem? She doesn’t appear to be someone that would study in Israel. I’m surprised that didn’t raise any red flags.

quote:

A masters degree from hebrew University in Jerusalem? She doesn’t appear to be someone that would study in Israel. I’m surprised that didn’t raise any red flags.

That was creative and bold, but pretty likely she would not run into classmates.