Saipan resident Brian Lizama, 49, got a copy of his jailed brother’s birth certificate and used it to steal his brother’s identity and more than $30,000 from his brother’s bank account, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
U.S. Attorney Shawn Anderson on Thursday announced the federal court in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands sentenced Lizama to two years for aggravated identify theft. Lizama was indicted last July and entered into a plea agreement last October.
The money was stolen between December 2019 and February 2020, court documents state, while Lizama’s brother was incarcerated. The brother learned money was missing from his account when he checked his balance over the phone.