Alabama Woman Pleads Guilty to Mail Fraud and Aggravated Identity Theft

OKLAHOMA CITY—Erica Renee Cecil (a/k/a Erica King), 37, from Phenix City, Alabama, pled guilty today to committing mail fraud and aggravated identity theft, announced Sanford C. Coats, United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma. According to court records and information from the plea hearing, Sergeant David Cecil was a member of the United States Army stationed in Germany and while stationed in Germany in 1994, married a woman named Carmen Kolb, a citizen of Germany. The couple subsequently moved to Fort Benning, Georgia, and divorced in 2007. Carmen Cecil (Kolb) returned to Germany. In December of 2007, David Cecil married defendant Erica Renee King in Georgia.

Eventually, David Cecil was reassigned to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and on June 9, 2009, he and defendant Erica Renee Cecil (King) divorced in Lawton, Oklahoma. From December 2008 through March of 2009, Erica Cecil fraudulently used the name, date of birth, and Social Security number of Carmen Kolb (her ex-husband’s ex-wife) to apply for and obtain several credit cards without authorization in order to make various charges and obtain cash advances. Cecil was indicted on February 21, 2012. At sentencing, she faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000, plus mandatory restitution. These charges are the result of an investigation started by German law enforcement and coordinated with the Department of Justice Office of International Affairs and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Robinson.