A woman with convictions for fraud dating back almost 30 years is expected to be sentenced Wednesday on federal charges in downtown Los Angeles for possessing personal identifying information and mail that did not belong to her.
Maria Christina Hendricks, 53, whose last address outside of custody was not immediately known, pleaded guilty in May 2023 to possession of at least 15 unauthorized access devices and aggravated identity theft, court papers show.
When arrested in February 2019, Hendricks had in her possession 52 Social Security numbers, 58 credit, debit and bank account numbers, and 179 pieces of mail that were not her own, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors say she used personal identifying information belonging to one victim to open a Wells Fargo bank account, which she used to make illicit purchases and withdrawals.
In federal court Wednesday, prosecutors are expected to ask that Hendricks be sentenced to a 30-month term of imprisonment for the unauthorized access devices charge and the two-year mandatory consecutive sentence for the identity theft count, according to the government’s sentencing papers.
Hendricks has an extensive criminal history.
In a prior case, a multi-agency task force investigating identity theft arrested Hendricks in May 2016 on suspicion of stealing the personal information of men she met through dating and home rental websites.
Hendricks, then using the last name Johnson, “has no legitimate source of income and lists her occupation as a dog trainer, yet appeared to live the high-dollar lifestyle … entirely off stolen identities,” the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release at the time.
During the probe that resulted in the 2016 charges, detectives determined that Hendricks’ mode of operation was “to capitalize on her physical attraction and meet victims through well-known dating websites and home rental websites,” the LASD said.
Once she gained access to a victim’s home, she located personal identifying information and opened lines of credit without their permission, the release stated.
“She would change their mailing address and assume the victim’s identity. Once she gleaned information about the victim’s personal connections, she moved on to steal the identities of their relatives and friends.”
After assuming an identity without permission, Hendricks moved into high-end hotels and charged thousands of dollars worth of goods and services, officials said.
During one hotel stay, the defendant even attempted to buy a car, according to the LASD.
Court records show Hendricks pleaded no contest to a pair of identity theft-related charges in the 2016 case and was sentenced to three years in county jail. She was apparently on parole at the time on a previous case, records show.
The defendant’s first felony convictions came in the state of Washington sometime in 1997. She drifted southward and, in 2008, started an arrest record in California, serving a prison sentence from a Torrance case that included 11 felony counts of identity theft, grand theft and credit card fraud, according to the LASD.
30 months is not long enough, this kind of criminal ruins many lives. She will do it again. She doesn’t know how to work a regular job and all she will learn in prison is how to do it better.