PEORIA, Ill. – A DeKalb, Illinois, man, Christopher Simmons, 41, of the 800 block of Edgebrook Drive, was sentenced on February 24, 2022, to concurrent terms of 46 months’ imprisonment and five years of supervised release for three counts of bank fraud, and a consecutive term of 24 months’ imprisonment for aggravated identity theft. The aggravated identity theft sentence also included one year of supervised release, to run concurrently with the three years supervised release for bank fraud.
At the October 2021 trial, the government presented evidence showing that Simmons provided false information to the Citizens Equity First Credit Union about his earnings, his place of employment, his social security number, and his address for the purpose of obtaining car loans and a Mastercard. Simmons used a northern Illinois woman’s social security number in trying to obtain the loan.
At the sentencing hearing, the government presented evidence that at the time of his arrest Simmons provided false names to the Chicago Police Department.
In imposing the 70-month sentence, U.S. District Judge James E. Shadid noted that Simmons is “interested only in himself while causing harm to others” and said that there was nothing “to indicate that he would do anything other than recidivate.”
Judge Shadid also ordered Simmons to pay restitution in the amount of $49,900 to the credit union.
Simmons’s co-defendant, Adreen Canterberry, previously pleaded guilty. In September 2021, Canterberry was sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment, to be followed by a five-year term of supervised release, and was ordered to pay restitution of $49,900, joint and severable with Simmons.
The statutory penalties for bank fraud are up to 30 years’ imprisonment, up to a five-year term of supervised release, and up to a $1,000,000 fine. The penalty for aggravated identity theft is a mandatory two-year sentence of imprisonment consecutive to the bank fraud conviction, to be followed by one year of supervised release.
The United States Secret Service investigated the case. Criminal Chief Darilynn J. Knauss and Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas F. McMeyer represented the government in the prosecution.