10 women indicted in phone service scam

The case was investigated by the FBI's Youngstown office and Liberty and Hubbard police departments.
CLEVELAND -- A federal grand jury in Cleveland has indicted 10 Mahoning Valley residents on charges of mail fraud, wire fraud, identity fraud and conspiracy, accusing them of a telephone service scheme that resulted in more than $500,000 in unauthorized phone service fees.
U.S. Attorney Emily M. Sweeney announced the indictment Friday of Rosemary Delgado, 42, of Ravine Road, Youngstown; Sonia Lamboy, 26, Payton Drive, Youngstown; Clara Perez, 41, of Catalina Avenue, Youngstown; Donnitia Jean Mitchell, 27, of Scioto Drive, Youngstown; Wilma Iris Rodriguez, 33, of Green Acres Drive, Liberty; Leslie Faye Dawson, 51 of Shehy Street, Youngstown; Sheryl A. Yurjevich, 30, of Highland Avenue, Struthers; Evette Aponte, 38, of Jean Street, Campbell; Norma Jean George, 36, of Wilson Avenue, Youngstown; and Rochelle E. Whitacre, 27, of Youngstown-Hubbard Road, Hubbard.
Each woman is accused of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. Delgado is also named in eight wire fraud counts and one mail fraud count and is charged with identity theft.
Rodriguez, Dawson, Yurjevich, Whitacre, Lamboy, Perez, Mitchell and George all have been charged with one count of wire fraud. Aponte was charged with one count of mail fraud.
The indictment alleges that Delgado obtained a confidential master patient list containing the names and Social Security numbers of patients in Sharon Regional Health System as well as names and Social Security numbers from the Trumbull County Legal News.
She is accused of using the information to obtain phone service for herself and the other defendants, charging them about $50 per phone.
After establishment of phone service, the phone would be used to make long distance calls until the service provider, unable to collect the outstanding fees, disconnected the service.
After the disconnection, a new phone would be requested in another name resulting in additional fees until the service provider again disconnected the service. It resulted in more than $500,000 in unauthorized fees.
On conviction, the maximum penalties for wire and mail fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud or mail fraud is five years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both followed by three years' supervised release.
The maximum penalty for identity theft is 15 years' imprisonment, a $250,000 fine or both, followed by three years of supervised release.
The case was investigated by the Youngstown FBI office and the Liberty and Hubbard police departments.