A Hephzibah-area woman who stole the identities of a dozen people and used them to obtain credit cards and cash to make lavish purchases was sentenced to 10 years in prison Wednesday.
Santrece Willingham, 32, was under indictment for 26 counts of identity fraud and 10 counts of financial transaction card fraud spread across six criminal cases in Richmond County Superior Court.
At a hearing last year after which Willingham was taken into custody, one of the victims told Judge Ashley Wright that Willingham had ruined her family’s financial life.
Money they’d saved over 25 years for their children’s college tuition was gone, their credit score dropped from the 800s to the 400s, her husband lost a promotion because his security clearance was reduced, her own job was impacted and insurance and other services cost more.
“Your credit affects everything in your life,” she said.
While Willingham had been out on bond from an earlier identity fraud indictment, she spent $18,000 in their names, traveling to Las Vegas and Miami, having her hair and nails done and even obtaining breast implants, the victim said.
Between 2017 and 2022, Willingham used other people’s identities to obtain cable, car insurance, driver’s licenses, voter registration cards, social security cards, pizza, a PayPal account, bank accounts, various store and bank credit cards she used to make purchases and even to apply for credit card relief, according to the indictments. At least twice she withdrew $18,000 from the victims’ accounts, which she is now ordered to repay in restitution.
A family history of fraud
Willingham is the daughter of the admitted ringleader of an identity theft ring, Angela Willingham.
Angela Willingham, 50, was sentenced to 170 months in federal prison for her role in stealing the identities of patients at AU Medical Center and Gracewood State Hospital to file false income tax returns. The scheme, which involved claiming nonexistent lottery winnings, netted more than $1 million in income tax refunds.
Both Angela and Santrece Willingham were among the 11 defendants accused, most of them relatives, in the 146-count 2013 federal indictment. The first to plead guilty, Santrece Willingham was sentenced to five years on probation. Angela Willingham is scheduled for release from an Atlanta transition center in February 2024.
Wearing a pink jail jumpsuit, Santrece Willingham, who has a special-needs child, told the court she had changed.
“I’m very smart,” she said, and had obtained a job with Club Car held up by her criminal charges. She has another job waiting with a food truck. “I’m a wonderful cook,” she said.
Upon her release, “I have things I can go to” besides a life of crime, she said.
Judge imposes 10-year prison term
The numerous indictments had a maximum combined penalty of more than 60 years, but Wright limited it to 10 in prison, followed by 10 on probation. Willingham pleaded guilty to all of the charges.
As conditions of her probation, Willingham is subject to a 9 p.m. curfew and random drug screens, DNA tests and searches, Wright said. She has to repay the $18,000 amounts at at least $200 per month and pay a $2,500 fine per indictment, the judge said.
Willingham is also ordered to have no contact with her victims or with five named gang members with whom she is affiliated, Wright said.
Willingham can’t be a payee for anyone other than her child, Wright said. While she’s in prison, the child will be cared for by her sister, who showed up in support Wednesday, Willingham said.
Willingham was represented by Kara Stangl of the Augusta Circuit Public Defender’s Office. Assistant District Attorney Stetson Cromer prosecuted the case.
