Missouri woman pleads guilty to ID theft, bank fraud

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A central Missouri woman has admitted in federal court she plotted to use stolen mail and identities to cash bogus checks at banks.

Twenty-seven-year-old Chrystal Bernstein of Osage Beach pleaded guilty Tuesday to single counts of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Prosecutors said Bernstein obtained stolen mail and used stolen identities to cash and deposit the checks at banks in Boone and Camden counties from December 2016 to mid-February of this year.

Authorities said the victims sustained a total loss of roughly $14,000.

When arrested in February, authorities said Bernstein had a driver’s license, Social Security card and credit card bearing another person’s name. After she was arrested again two weeks later, searchers found checks and money orders stolen from two additional victims.