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Home Court filings United States v. Donna J. Clark Amended Plea Agreement — U.S. v. Clark

Court filing

Amended Plea Agreement — U.S. v. Clark

Filed December 22, 2021 in U.S. v. Donna Clark; one of 10 filings from this case.

Record facts

CourtU.S. District Court, Eastern District of Tennessee
Filed2021-12-22

U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Tennessee · No. 1:21-cr-00069-CEA-CHS · Doc. 18 · 2021-12-22 · Docket on CourtListener

Full text

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 
EASTERN DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE 
CHATTANOOGA 
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
) 
) 
) 
) 
) 
v. 
1:21-cr-69 
DONNA CLARK 
Judge Atchley/Steger 
AMENDED PLEA AGREEMENT 
The United States of America by and through Francis M. Hamilton III, Acting United 
States Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee, and Steven S. Neff, Assistant United States 
Attorney, and Donna Clark, the defendant, and Gianna Maio, the defendant's attorney, have agreed 
upon the following: 
1. 
The defendant will plead guilty to the following count in the indictment:
 
Count _1_ . Wire Fraud, in violation of 18  U.S.C. § 13 43. The punishment for this 
offense is as follows. A maximum possible term of imprisonment of up to 30 years, a possible 
fine of up to $1, 000,000, up to 5 years of supervised release, special assessment, forfeiture 
and restitution. 
2. 
In consideration of the defendant's guilty plea, the United States agrees to dismiss 
the remaining counts against the defendant in this indictment (Counts Two and Three) and not to 
further prosecute the defendant in the Eastern District of Tennessee for any other non-tax criminal 
offenses committed by the defendant that are related to the charges contained in the indictment in 
this case and that are known to the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of 
Tennessee at the time this plea agreement is signed by both parties. 
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people were sending money to them, but the people could not transfer the money directly to the 
men, so the defendant agreed to have the people send the money to her, and then she sent the 
money to the men.   
The defendant received packages in the mail or UPS containing cash. The defendant did 
not know any of the people who sent her the money. One of the men instructed Clark how to go 
to a Bitcoin ATM and deposit the money to his account. The men also asked her to buy Steam 
cards, and after she bought the cards, Clark sent them photos of the cards. The men also asked 
her to buy Green Dot cards, and Clark sent the men money on CashApp. The men allowed Clark 
to keep some of the money which she received, from $20 to like $200. Clark provided SA 
Kukura with original UPS envelopes which Clark received from “K.B.” and “M.W.” Clark stated 
that the packages contained cash, but she did not know “K.B.” or “M.W.” Clark also provided 
SA Kukura with original Bitcoin ATM receipts. 
A Confidential Human Source (CHS) contacted Kukura shortly after the June 21, 2021, 
interview of Clark. The CHS told Kukura that after he spoke to Clark, she destroyed her Green 
Dot cards. The CHS also advised that Clark was continuing to engage in money mule activities. 
For example, on the evening of June 23, 2021, the CHS was at Clark’s apartment at 138 
Chilhowee Circle, apartment 102, Benton, Tennessee and saw Clark scratching off Steam cards, 
taking photos of the cards, and sending the photos to one of the men with whom she had been 
communicating – a man named “Ken Roberts.”  The CHS later provided Kukura with 
photographs and video taken in Clark’s apartment of Steam cards, a Wells Fargo Bank 
transaction receipt, and store receipts. During subsequent consensually-recorded conversations, 
Clark told the CHS that all the Steam cards are for Roberts. When the CHS asked Clark how 
Roberts sells the Steam cards, Clark explained that Roberts has the bar code and PIN, that Clark 
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scratches them off and sends a picture to Roberts, and then Clark throws the cards in the garbage. 
One of the store receipt photos/video provided to Kukura by the CHS was for the cash purchase 
of Steam cards on June 23, 2021, at a Dollar General store. Kukura subsequently obtained 
images from the store surveillance cameras, and recognized Clark as the person in the images 
making the purchase of the Steam cards.  
 
On June 28, 2021, the CHS reported to Kukura that Clark informed the CHS that Clark 
had received money into her Wells Fargo Bank account from a man named “D.W.”, that Clark 
was going to the bank branch in Dalton, Georgia, that day to withdraw the money in cash, and 
that Clark was then going to send the cash to a woman at Roberts’ direction. Kukura and other 
FBI Agents conducted surveillance at the Wells Fargo Bank on June 28, 2021, where they 
observed Clark’s PT Cruiser. The PT Cruiser departed the bank at approximately 1:30 pm and 
they followed it back toward the Tennessee/Georgia border. 
 
The CHS engaged in consensually recorded conversations with Clark. Some of these 
conversations took place in Clark’s apartment, and the CHS was present when Clark was on her 
cellphone speaking to Roberts and others. While in her apartment, Clark also showed the CHS 
text messages which she received from Roberts on her cellphone. During these consensually 
recorded conversations, Clark and the CHS discussed the money which she received into her 
Wells Fargo Bank account, including the following: 
 
Clark told the CHS that she received $20,833 into her Wells Fargo Bank account from 
“D.W.”, and on June 28, 2021, she withdrew $19,833 in cash which she then sent via FedEx on 
June 29, 2021, to two other people for Roberts. Clark told the CHS that Roberts let her keep 
$1,000; and that she paid $100 out if it for Steam cards, and $45 out of it to ship it.  She said that 
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