Former employee of Kentucky agency allegedly used IDs of other to steal $444,000

A former state employee stole more than $400,000 from a Kentucky government agency by using identities of other people to write herself checks, a federal grand jury has charged.

The grand jury indicted Brittany Joyce May, 35, Thursday on five charges of wire fraud and three charges of aggravated identity theft.

May worked at the Cabinet for Health and Family Services from August 2018 to May 2023.

Her duties included entering information into a registry from people who were entitled to payments under adoption and foster-care programs, and also initiating payments to their bank accounts or debit cards, according to the indictment.

May allegedly created accounts at banks using the names and Social Security numbers of cabinet clients, but had the debit cards from the accounts sent to her home in Frankfort and initiated payments to her accounts.

May changed clients’ bank account information in the registry to accounts she controlled, and also changed their addresses in the system so they wouldn’t get a notice a payment had been made using their name, the indictment charges.

May used the names and Social Security numbers of at least 40 cabinet clients in carrying out the scheme, according to the indictment.

She also submitted fake invoices at times to justify payments, according to the indictment.

Between November 2019 and May 2023, May initiated more than 500 financial transfers to accounts she created at four different banks, resulting in a loss of $444,000 to the cabinet, the indictment says.

The wire fraud charges are punishable by up to 20 years in prison. There is a mandatory two-year sentence for an identity-theft conviction in federal court, to be served on top of any other sentence.

May was charged earlier in state court in Franklin County with filing false tax returns and pleaded not guilty.

Her attorney in the state case was not immediately available for comment.