From The Associated Press
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama man has pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud after admitting to using someone else’s identity to raid a memorial fund for a slain officer, federal prosecutors said.
Devonte Lemond Hammonds, 27, of Birmingham, pleaded guilty Friday to one count each of access device fraud and wire fraud in connection with money he stole from the Billy Clardy Memorial Fund, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama Prim Escalona said.
Clardy, an officer in Huntsville, was shot and killed in the line of duty in 2019, al.com reported. The fund was established to collect donations to help his family..
Hammonds used another person’s identity to open a bank account and transferred funds to the account from the memorial fund “for his own use,” Escalona said.
Hammonds faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the access device fraud charge and up to 30 years and a $250,000 fine on the wire fraud charge. A sentencing date has not been set.