Brookfield credit union fraud scheme, 4 accused in case
BROOKFIELD, Wis. - Four Milwaukee residents are accused of taking tens of thousands of dollars from Landmark Credit Union accounts.
The charges filed against Taurus Singleton, Jasmaina Wiggins, John Ashley, Veronica Burnett include theft, fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Waukesha County prosecutors said a man called Landmark Credit Union last year and asked to make changes to the email and telephone number associated with his account. Investigators said that caller was able to correctly answer security questions – but it wasn’t the account holder on the phone. Police said it was identity theft.
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Investigators believe the scheme worked something like this:
- John Ashley would call Landmark Credit Union and pretend to be an account holder.
- Once contact information was changed, police said Ashley moved the money.
- Investigators said funds were taken from six different member accounts – then deposited into either Veronica Burnett, Taurus Singleton or Jasmaina Wiggins’ account.
Landmark Credit Union
In total, prosecutors said the group defrauded Landmark Credit Union out of nearly $66,000.
Brookfield detectives got warrants for records associated with the new email address on the victims’ accounts. They traced the IP address to Ashley. Police said the other three were all captured on surveillance video withdrawing funds from their personal accounts.
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A Waukesha County judge issued arrest warrants for three of the four – but online court records indicate Ashley's case is sealed. It's unclear why.
FOX6 News reached out to Landmark Credit Union with questions, but did not hear back by the deadline for this story.