A visiting federal judge accepted terms for a former white collar crimes prosecutor who pleaded guilty to allegations that she had stolen identification from five relatives for online gambling.
Monica Dillon had been deputy criminal chief for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia.
Her online professional profile says from 2021 to 2024 she led a team of eight attorneys in the investigation and prosecution of all the white-collar fraud, health care fraud, environmental, tax, and civil rights prosecutions.
That overlaps with the time period, 2021 to 2023, when Dillon is accused in five separate instances of taking “a name, social security number, and date of birth, knowing that the means of identification belonged to another actual person” with the intent to commit unlawful activity.
The stolen identities were used to open and operate online gambling accounts and conduct financial transactions in the victims’ names, according to an agreed statement of facts filed in federal court.
During an initial appearance and plea hearing at 9:30 a.m. today at the federal courthouse in Charleston, Dillon pleaded guilty.
Furthermore, Dillon agreed to a specific pretrial diversion program that allows for the dismissal of her criminal charges if she successfully completes a period of court-ordered supervision.
The pretrial diversion program is part of a broader Department of Justice initiative designed to divert certain offenders from traditional processing to ensure accountability while conserving judicial resources and promoting rehabilitation.
The federal Justice Manual grants the U.S. Attorney broad discretion to identify individuals for diversion.
MetroNews reporter Chris Lawrence was in the courtroom.
The case was not handled by the local U.S. Attorney’s Office where Dillon worked. Instead, the plea and pretrial diversion was signed by Sally Sullivan, a special assistant United States attorney who typically works out of Charlottesville, Va.
Kenneth Bell, a federal judge usually in the Western District of North Carolina has been assigned to oversee the case. Albert Diaz, the chief judge for the fourth circuit, wrote that “in my judgment the public interest so requires” designating Bell to oversee the case.
Last year, the West Virginia Supreme Court ordered Dillon’s law license to be annulled by voluntary consent.
The Supreme Court order indicated that happened through a disciplinary rule that a “lawyer who is the subject of an investigation into or a pending proceeding involving allegations of misconduct may consent to disbarment, but only by delivering to the board an affidavit stating that he or she desires to consent to disbarment.”
Dillon filed for federal bankruptcy in 2022 in a case that has been moving toward conclusion.
In the ongoing federal prosecution, the pretrial diversion would mean Dillon must successfully complete a two-year period of supervision by the U.S. Probation Office for the Southern District of West Virginia
A key condition of her diversion is that she must pay $30,000 in restitution to the first victim, starting the payment during the 24-month supervisory period and until the full amount is repaid.
She also must comply with additional requirements such as not committing any other crimes, not obstructing justice and not making false statements.
If she complies with all of the terms and successfully completes the 24-month period, federal prosecutors have agreed to move for the dismissal of all five counts of identity theft.