PORTLAND — A former Maine medical student was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to serve 60 months in prison for bank fraud and aggravated identify theft.
District Judge George Z. Singal imposed the sentence on 30-year-old Olumide Adeola Pidan, a Nigerian native who was studying medicine at Saint Joseph’s College in Windham when he operated his scheme.
United States Attorney Paula Silsby said the sentence was imposed after Pidan pleaded guilty to the charges in November. Those convictions were based upon a scheme in which Pidan hijacked the identities and bank accounts of victims.
Pidan inflated those accounts with credit, transferred the money out of the victim accounts into his own bank accounts, and spent the money on himself and his friends.
Between February and April of 2007, Pidan transferred about $85,000 from the victim accounts into his own accounts, according to Silsby.
He spent more than $3,000 on items from Gucci in New York City, had flowers delivered to three women in three states, and spent $1,000 for designer shoes.
Silsby praised the United States Postal Inspection Service for aiding in the investigation.
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