10-29-2024 4:49am

Owings Mills Woman

Owings Mills Woman Sentenced to Federal Prison for Wire Fraud and Receiving Stolen Cars Bound for Illegal Shipment to West Africa

U.S. District Chief Judge George Levi Russell, III, sentenced Maimouna Bagayoki, age 54, of Owings Mills, Maryland, to 42 months in federal prison, followed by two years of supervised release, and $60,569.87 restitution, for Wire Fraud and Receipt of Stolen Motor Vehicles bound for illegal shipment to West Africa.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron; Special Agent in Charge Michael McCarthy of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Baltimore; Port of Baltimore Director Adam Rottman of U.S. Customs and Border Protection; Baltimore Police Department Commissioner Richard Worley; and Baltimore County Police Department Chief Robert McCullough.

According to the plea agreement, in 2021, Bagayoko worked with others to bring stolen luxury vehicles into Maryland where they would be loaded onto large cargo shipping containers and taken to the Port of Baltimore. Then, using fraudulent documentation and paperwork, Bagayoko concealed the containers’ contents – Bagayoko emailed and texted the fake documents to the shipping company. The shipping containers were bound for West Africa. The value of the vehicles that were recovered was over $650,000, most of which were stolen from the homes of victims living in New Jersey and New York.

United States Attorney Erek L. Barron commended the HSI, CBP, Baltimore City Police and Baltimore County Police for their work in the investigation. Mr. Barron thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Colleen Elizabeth McGuinn, who prosecuted the federal case.