Opinion ID: 4526662
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Facts Underlying the Conviction

Text: In 1990, Selena Spriggs opened a checking account at what is now U.S. Bank in Elsmere, Kentucky, to receive her social security checks. A few years later, Mrs. Spriggs added her husband, Charles Spriggs, to the account. However, Mr. Spriggs neither used the account nor opened any of the related monthly bank statements sent to his home. On September 6, 2017, Vance filled out an application in Mr. Spriggs’s name for a debit card that could draw on the U.S. Bank checking account. It is unclear why the application was made, given that Mr. Spriggs had never used a debit card, nor did he know how to use one. According to Mr. Spriggs, although he had previously given his great-grandson the limited authority to cash checks that Mr. Spriggs might write for him, at no point had he authorized Vance to use the bank account in any other way. In addition, during an interview with investigators, Mrs. Spriggs denied giving her great-grandson permission to make out a debit card application in her husband’s name.1 Yet, despite lacking authorization from his great-grandparents, Vance used the card in his great-grandfather’s name thereafter for his own expenses. In fact, at various times, bank cameras photographed him using the debit card to withdraw cash. See Trial, R. 77 (#578-83); Gov’t Ex. 3; Gov’t Ex. 4; Trial, R. 72 (#432-45) (explaining that the photos of Vance using the ATMs 1 Because of her medical condition, Mrs. Spriggs was unable to testify at trial. However, Vance did not object to the introduction of her out-of-court statements; rather, Vance elicited such statements during his crossexamination of the investigator. No. 19-5160 United States v. Vance Page 3 corresponded to the documented debit-card transactions). Vance also reportedly used the card to rent hotel rooms in his name, fund maintenance on his car, and pay for rides through the ridesharing app, Lyft. In order to fund these purchases and ATM withdrawals, a total of $15,000 in cash advances were made to the Spriggses’ U.S. Bank account from a credit line associated with the account.2 On October 3, 2017, an online loan application requesting $15,000 was submitted to U.S. Bank in Mr. Spriggs’s name. As testified to by a U.S. Bank employee, the loan was approved. However, when the employee called the listed phone number on the application to inform Mr. Spriggs of the loan’s approval, a young man—not a 90-year old, as Mr. Spriggs was—answered the phone. When the employee asked to speak to “Charles [Mr. Spriggs],” the young man requested that she wait a moment; however, according to the employee’s testimony, when the alleged elderly “Charles” finally came to the phone, she recognized the voice as belonging to the same young man with whom she had just spoken. Trial, R. 72 (#455-57). Yet, when questioned about this on the phone by the employee, the young man continued insisting he was “Charles.” The employee, feeling uncomfortable with the situation, then explained to “Charles” that the closing of the loan would be contingent on him physically coming to the branch with identification. Immediately upon hanging up, the employee told her coworker that “Charles” “[did] not sound like a 90-year-old man on the phone.” Id. (#457). And incidentally, the “Charles” on the phone never came in person to the bank to close the loan. Instead, on October 12, 2017, Vance entered a different bank—Huntington Bank, in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky—where he opened a checking account. Although this time Vance used his own name, address, phone number, and email address in the application, he listed Mr. Spriggs’s social security number on the application as his own. Upon approval of the application, Vance deposited $1,000 into the account, but he withdrew the entire amount within one week. 2 On September 19, 2017, a $9,980 cash advance was requested via mobile phone, and later deposited into the Spriggses’ account. On October 4, 2017, a $5,020 cash advance was requested online and deposited into the account. The Government alleges that Vance’s unauthorized uses of the debit card through these aforementioned activities are the bases for his access-device fraud charge (count 1) and aggravated identity theft charges (counts 2 and 3). No. 19-5160 United States v. Vance Page 4 On October 16, 2017—prior to Vance withdrawing all of the money from the account at Huntington Bank—an online application was submitted to that financial institution for a $10,200 loan. This application was filed from an I.P. address belonging to Vance’s mother. The online loan application was filled out with Vance’s name, address, phone number, and email address; however, similar to the checking-account application he had earlier submitted to Huntington, this online application used Mr. Spriggs’s social security number. Ultimately, however, because the social security number did not correspond with Vance’s identity, Huntington denied the loan.3 Upon being notified by U.S. Bank and Huntington Bank about suspicious activities involving his identity, Mr. Spriggs filed a police report, claiming he was the victim of fraud and identity theft. On October 17, 2017, the police arrested Vance. Approximately one week later, when searching Vance’s car, the police located a large stash of personal and financial documents belonging to the Spriggses, which included bank statements for the U.S. Bank account, taxreturn forms, property-tax bills, and the title to Mr. Spriggs’s car.