Milwaukee HSA Bank fraud scheme; Cecil Lacy reaches plea deal
MILWAUKEE - Cecil Lacy has reached a plea deal for his role in a Milwaukee scheme that involved using bank customers' personal information to steal thousands of dollars.
Lacy pleaded guilty on Monday, Feb. 26 to two counts of misappropriate ID info-obtain money. In exchange, eleven other charges were dismissed and read into the court record for the purposes of sentencing.
Lacy is now scheduled to be sentenced on April 29.
Case details
According to a criminal complaint, former HSA Bank employee Precious Palmer gave out customers' personal information as part of a scheme to steal money from their accounts.
Precious Palmer
Investigators said everything from ZIP codes, social security numbers and home addresses would then be handed to a second person – Cecil Lacy.
The complaint states Lacy would then call the bank and provide that information while pretending to be a certain customer. He was then able to access the accounts.
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For about a year, the two allegedly attempted to steal thousands of dollars from customers who use HSA Bank. The district attorney's office said Lacy got away with stealing $13,000, but there were multiple unsuccessful attempts to take more.
Palmer and Lacy are charged with a total of 26 counts pertaining to identity theft and fraud. Palmer initially denied the allegations, prosecutors say, but eventually gave up Lacy's name – saying "it was all his idea" and "I was kind of wrong for it."
Palmer was sentenced to probation after pleading guilty on Feb. 17 to two felonies tied to the fraud scheme.