SAN FRANCISCO — A woman was sentenced to two years in federal prison this week for submitting a loan application from jail that was so obviously fraudulent it was immediately rejected by the credit union employees who received it.
Generose Yambao was sentenced to 27 months for fraud, though prosecutors conceded her fraudulent loan application — which was stamped “county jail” and handwritten — didn’t fool anyone. But they argued Yambao’s “multiple fraud convictions” warranted the prison term.
In 2012, Yambao was sentenced to eight years in state prison for an identity theft case that involved eight victims. In 2019, while incarcerated at the West County Detention Facility in Richmond, she submitted the fraudulent application to a Redwood Credit Union branch, where it was immediately turned over to authorities.
Yambao’s attorney, Federal Public Defender Steven Kalar, wrote in court records that her crime was the proximate result of her struggle with drug addiction. She now has a steady job and an overall improved life since moving out of the Bay Area, he said.
“The sad reality is that Ms. Yambao had unfettered access to drugs while in custody on this state offense, and was actively addicted and using throughout all of the offense conduct now before the Court,” Kalar wrote. “This drug use during the offense conduct is not offered in mitigation: Ms. Yambao accepts full responsibility for her crimes. It is striking, however, to now see the remarkable change in this woman’s life now that she is not using drugs: a change that bodes well for her complete rehabilitation.”
Yambao has until February 2021 to begin her sentence, which was handed down by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, court records show.
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Author: Nate Gartrell