Texas man pleads guilty to role in $1 million scheme involving Kansas call center

TOPEKA, Kan. (KCTV) - A man from Texas pleaded guilty to his role in a $1 million customer refund scheme that involved a Kansas call center and more than a dozen defendants.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas announced on Thursday, March 11, that Mercele Brooks, 28, of Harker Heights, Texas, has pleaded guilty to his role in a $1 million customer refund scheme that involved more than a dozen defendants.

Court documents indicated that Brooks pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to laundering monetary instruments. Kanesha Mercer, 35, Darius Polite, 30, Rudy Hunt, 32 and Veronica Kilman, 33, were all employees of Advanced Call Center Technologies in Junction City. The processed customer refunds for AT&T Digital Life home security systems.

However, court records noted that between December 2016 and August 2018, the four processed fraudulent refund claims that totaled around $1 million. They deposited the money into the bank accounts of co-conspirators who would return part of the funds. Brooks owned one of these accounts and reserved more than $100,300.

“This type of fraud, put simply, is greed-driven,” said Stephen A. Cyrus, Federal Bureau of Kansas City Special Agent in Charge. “This investigation determined that multiple bad actors took part in this scheme and this plea demonstrates that these individuals are being held accountable for their actions.”

Since the scheme ended, Anthony Charite, 33, Kiondra Armstrong, 30, Fontelle Jolly, 26, Kilman, Hunt and Sharika Pope, 42, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and await sentencing. Meanwhile, Erica Jackson, 41, and Shunqureau Gilbert, 30, both pleaded guilty to laundering of money instruments. The Office indicated the following also happened:

• Mercer was sentenced to spend 14 months in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
• Kory Epps Jr., 25, was sentenced to 10 months in prison for wire fraud.
• Caylon McCormick was sentenced to 6 months in prison for wire fraud
• Polite pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and awaits sentencing

The FBI investigated the case as Assistant U.S. Attorney Skip Jacobs prosecuted it.

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