Woodlawn Man Sentenced to 11 Years in Identity Theft Case

A Woodlawn man who federal prosecutors said was the ringleader of a large identity theft scheme was sentenced Monday to 11 years in prison.

Derrick Hill, 53, will also serve three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $191,180.26 in the ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett, according to a release from U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein's office.

Three accomplices—John Coffey, Tawney King and Hill's girlfriend Renee Cabell—have also pleaded guilty. Last week, a judge sentenced Cabell to 30 months and Coffey to 57 months in prison, and each was ordered to pay $191,180.26 in restitution, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

King will be sentenced Thursday. The total value of damages in the case, which had more than 250 victims, was over $188,000.

Hill took checks that were slated to be destroyed by banks, according to the release. King, who worked at Highlandtown Community Health Center, forwarded him patient information, which Hill then used to create counterfeit checks. Hill also created counterfeit identifications and altered Maryland driver's licenses, according to the release. The licenses would have the information of one of the victims and the photo of one of the co-conspirators.

Coffey helped cash the checks at banks and stores, according to prosecutors. Proceeds in either cash or items were given to Hill, who then paid a portion to his accomplices. Cabell, who processed fellowship applications at Johns Hopkins Hospital, passed along names and information of doctors who applied for fellowships. Hill rented apartments and bought items using the doctors' identities, according to prosecutors, and was about to be evicted from one of those apartments not long before his arrest.