Fourteen people have been indicted for a kickback scheme at a Junction City call center involving more than $1 million in fraudulent customer refunds.
A federal grand jury in Topeka indicted Kanesha Mercer, 32, Darius Polite, 27, and Rudy Hunt, 29, on conspiracy to commit wire fraud, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas announced Friday. The jury also indicted Mercer, Polite, Hunt and Veronica Kilman, 31, for wire fraud.
According to court documents, Mercer, Polite, Hunt and Kilman are former employees of Advanced Call Center Technologies (ACCT) in Junction City. ACCT provides support services including processing refunds for AT&T Digital Life home security systems.
Mercer, Polite, Hunt, and Kilman are accused of authorizing fraudulent refunds then directing the deposits into the bank accounts of other accomplices who agreed to return a percentage of the money.
Authorities didn’t give a definitive start date for the scheme, but it lasted from around December 2016 to around August 2018. Authorities said the refunds commonly ranged from about $4,000 to more than $6,000.
Mercer is accused of initiating at least 121 fraudulent refunds totaling at least $576,900. According to documents, Mercer instructed others how to initiate fraudulent refunds and recruited others to receive the money.
Polite, who authorities also said recruited people to receive money, is accused of at least 49 fraudulent refunds totaling at least $258,718.50, Hunt is accused of at least 29 fraudulent refunds totaling at least $175,970.31, and Kilman is accused of one fraudulent refund for $6,029.98.
The grand jury also indicted Sharika Pope, Erica Jackson, Caylon McCormick, Mercele Brooks, Shunqureau Gilbert, Fontelle Jolly, Kory Epps Jr., Kiondra Armstrong, Anthony Charite, and Shenece Marryshow on laundering of money instruments. The four former employees recruited them to receive the refunds.
According to documents, Pope, McCormick, Brooks, Jolly, Charite and Armstrong also are former ACCT employees; Jackson owned Diva Stylez Hair Salon in Junction City; and Gilbert and Epps were soldiers at Fort Riley. The documents identified Marryshow as Gilbert’s partner/spouse.
Each of the charges for the 14 carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
The FBI is investigating the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Skip Jacobs is prosecuting the case.
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