Husband and Wife Team Sentenced in Fraud Scheme

Larissa M. Tyler | As of Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Donella Anderson Watkins, 43, and her husband, Sammie Watkins, 56
Donella Anderson Watkins, 43, and her husband, Sammie Watkins, 56

Perhaps it’s the tough economy, perhaps it’s simply greed, but people are going to extremes measures to make ends meet these days, even involving some “creative” criminal activity. For example, a husband and wife team recently faked the deaths of their living children to scam their employer out of money. And it didn’t stop there. They also stole their coworkers’ identities.

Ill. Attorney General Lisa Madigan revealed last week that Donella Anderson Watkins, 43, and her husband, Sammie Watkins, 56, both former Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) employees, were recently sentenced for a scheme to steal thousands of dollars from the agency’s deferred compensation program.

 According to Madigan’s office, the partners in crime pleaded guilty to an array of wrongdoings at their sentencing.

Donella Anderson Watkins, of Lansing, pleaded guilty to continuing a financial crimes enterprise and to fraudulent filing of an Illinois tax return and was sentenced to five years in prison by Cook County Circuit Court Judge Clayton Crane. Sammie Watkins, pleaded guilty to attempted identity theft and fraudulent filing of an Illinois tax return and was sentenced to eight months in jail and 18 months of probation.

 It was discovered during the investigation that that the two submitted false documentation to their deferred compensation program administrators to seek emergency withdrawals from their accounts without incurring a tax penalty. 

The false documentation included submitting fake death certificates for their living children to create an “emergency need” for supposed funeral expenses. The couple also stole the identities of other CTA employees to submit false withdrawal forms on their behalf without the employees’ knowledge.

 “These defendants took extreme steps to steal retirement funds from their coworkers and to avoid tax penalties,” Madigan said. 

 An investigation by Madigan’s Public Integrity Bureau revealed that Donella Watkins secured $18,000 in the name of a co-worker.

The deviant duo may have gotten away with their trickery, but when Sammie Watkins attempted to make an emergency withdrawal in the name of another employee, it raised a red flag, and well, the rest is history.

 The cases were eventually referred to Madigan’s office from the Office of the Executive Inspector General. The Illinois Department of Revenue’s Criminal Investigation Division assisted in the investigation.

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