Fifth person charged in scam to bilk sheriff's office

Federal prosecutors charged a Philadelphia woman today with being part of a scam that bilked the Philadelphia Sheriff's office in 2009 and 2010.

Authorities say Jesseca Batton, 32, schemed with a former accounting employee in the Sheriff's office, Richard Bell, and obtained five bogus checks that totaled approximately $29,623 drawn on the office's TD bank accounts.

Batton cashed the checks or deposited them into her own bank account and later divided the proceeds with Bell, the charging document said.

Prosecutors said that on December 30, 2009, Batton, who was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, deposited a Sheriff's check for $8,624 into her account.

Batton, who was not a city employee, was charged by criminal information, a process that typically indicates a plea deal is in the works.

Bell, 36, pleaded guilty in January for his role in the fraudulent scheme. He is to be sentenced in April and could potentially face 27 to 33 months in prison.

Prosecutors said that between 2007 and 2010 Bell wrote fraudulent checks drawn on accounts of the Sheriff's office to unauthorized individuals and then forwarded more than $400,000 of those checks to an accomplice.

That accomplice, Robert Rogers, took his share of the proceeds and forwarded remaining checks to two co-defendants, prosecutors say.

All three men pleaded guilty in January and will also be sentenced in April.