Who is Katrina Pierce? Wiki, Biography, Age, Charged, Arrested

Prosecutors claim her fraud scheme was first discovered in late 2019 by the Cook County Office of Vital Records, which noted that Pierce had applied for four death certificates in one day while claiming to be the sister of each victim, despite having different surnames. A subsequent record check revealed that Pierce had requested 37 death certificates in 2019, obtaining at least 26 of them, according to the complaint.

“The director then investigated the backgrounds of the deceased and discovered that they were all homicide victims, aged between 2 and 22, from the south and west sides of Chicago,” the complaint reads. The director believed Pierce targeted his victims because they were less likely to have credit and that she may have tried to open accounts using their identities, prosecutors said.

Amari Brown, a 7-year-old Chicago boy shot to death in 2015, was allegedly one of Pierce’s victims. She falsely claimed she was her aunt when she obtained her death certificate in 2019 and then used the stolen information to file a fraudulent tax return that led to a $ 4,407 refund check from the IRS, prosecutors said.

“Why would anyone want to do this?” Amari’s aunt, Andrina Hailey, told WLS-TV, accusing Pierce of reopening the family’s wounds. “It’s very sensitive to us and we just think it’s disgusting.” IRS agents went to Pierce’s return address listed on his applications in January 2020 and found handwritten notes listing the names of the people killed and their manner of death, including “shot,” “killed,” or “stabbed,” says the complaint.

Investigators said Pierce also searched for personal information on those killed in St. Louis, including a homicide victim to fraudulently obtain COVID-19 stimulus payments and a prepaid debit card in their name.

Prosecutors said Pierce had multiple bank accounts under various names to hide his plan. She deposited nearly $ 84,000 into one of the accounts during a six-month period last year that ended in December, or more than double the amount of her total income reported on her tax return, according to the lawsuit.

Pierce was arrested Tuesday and appeared before a judge who ordered her arrest pending trial. according to court records cited by the Chicago Tribune. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Tuesday. In 2012, Pierce was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison for using stolen identities and other false documents to defraud more than $ 200,000 in federal tax refunds and state child care benefits, the newspaper reported.

Prosecutors at the time called her a “career con artist” who graduated from shoplifting as a teenager before launching counterfeit schemes, food stamps and identity theft.

“Stealing was [her] a full time occupation and she was good at it, ”prosecutors reportedly wrote in their earlier sentencing memorandum. Pierce was still on supervised release from the case when she was arrested, court records show. His court-appointed attorney could not be reached for comment, the Tribune reported.