A New York woman has admitted to depositing fraudulent checks and accessing the funds at multiple banks throughout the St. Louis area and Illinois, including banks in Eureka and High Ridge, the U.S. District Attorney’s Office reported.
Gabrielle Borthwick, 23, on Sept. 12 pleaded guilty to six counts of financial institution fraud and six counts of aggravated identity theft. She is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 17, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Borthwick admitted to using stolen personal information, such as names, birth dates and Social Security numbers, to deposit checks worth a total of $2,773,280.65 at six banks in the St. Louis area and one in Illinois. She also said she withdrew cash or transferred funds to different accounts to obtain $271,667.98, according to the guilty plea.
Each charge for institution fraud is punishable by up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million, and each aggravated identity theft charge carries a penalty of up to two years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Borthwick also will be ordered to repay the stolen money, the District Attorney’s Office reported.
Assistant U.S. attorney Justin Ladendorf is prosecuting the case.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, and the Eureka, O’Fallon, Union and Edwardsville (Ill.) police departments investigated the case.
According to the guilty plea, Borthwick went to banks with counterfeit cashier’s checks and used stolen personal information to deposit funds, which ranged from more than $120,000 to more than $1.4 million.
She would tell bank employees that she recently moved to the area, and she would explain the amount of the checks were so high because she operated a wedding planning business. The driver’s license she would present to bank employees would have her picture but contained the victims’ personal information, the plea said.
After depositing the funds, Borthwick would make cash withdrawals, electronically transfer the money or purchase items with a debit card she received after opening an account, according to the guilty plea.
According to the indictment, Borthwick executed the scheme between Feb. 29, 2024, through March 15, 2024, throughout the St. Louis area and in Edwardsville, Ill.
On Feb. 29, she deposited $121,260.08 and obtained about $110,000 of the funds from the Bank of Washington, and she deposited $1,423,351.15, but did not obtain any of the funds at the Farmers and Merchants Bank in High Ridge. She used a California driver’s license at the Bank of Washington and a Texas driver’s license at the Farmers and Merchants Bank, the indictment said.
On March 1, Borthwick deposited $125,668.97 and obtained about $71,500 from the Legends Bank in Union. She used a Colorado driver’s license at the bank, according to the report.
On March 11, she deposited $253,806.45 and obtained about $30,138.23 from the First Community Credit Union in Eureka. She used a New York driver’s license at the bank, the report said.
On March 12, Borthwick deposited $459,803.88 and obtained about $50,029.75 from the Great Southern Bank in O’Fallon. She used a different California driver’s license that she used at the Washington bank, according to the indictment.
On March 13, she deposited $168,487.95 and obtained about $10,000 of the funds from the Central Trust Bank in O’Fallon. She used an Indiana driver’s license at the bank, the indictment said.
On March 15, Borthwick attempted to deposit $220,902.17 at the Dieterich Bank in Edwardsville, Ill. The report said she used the same victim’s personal information at the Illinois bank that she used at the Bank of Washington, the report said.