A Gaithersburg woman pleaded guilty Monday to charges of mail fraud and identity theft after obtaining $431,542 from a Montgomery County couple by writing fraudulent checks.
The woman used the money to buy a house in Africa, to send cash transfers and to play casino games at Hollywood Casino in West Virginia, according to federal prosecutors.
Kadiatu Sahid Kamara, 50, worked as a nanny for the couple, which wasn’t identified in court documents. Kamara admitted forging 118 checks by using the signature of one of the victims and then depositing the checks into her own bank account from May 2011 to May 2013. The checks drew cash from the couple’s Fidelity Money Market account.
The complaint, which was filed in April, says the couple found out about the scheme in May 2013 and fired Kamara. The next month, she wrote the couple a letter asking for forgiveness and admitting to the fraud, according to the complaint.
Kamara faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for mail fraud and has agreed to pay restitution, according to the U.S Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland. She is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 14.