They played the parts of an Army major and an ailing Panamanian millionaire to defraud creditors and good Samaritans out of more than $1 million, federal officials say.
Now a Fort Lewis enlisted man and his unemployed wife are in federal detention, facing a charge that could land them in prison for five years.
FBI agents contend Irvin and Sonia McClendon used false identities, fake ID cards, and fraudulent tax documents and pay stubs to finance an extravagant lifestyle in a Lacey subdivision, a standard of living that far outstripped the staff sergeant’s $61,000 annual salary from the Army.
Agents who served a search warrant on the couple’s Lacey home reported finding closets full of fur coats, plus a flat-screen television and a high-end Bose radio in nearly every room.
Expensive artwork, Brooks Brothers clothes and expensive furniture abounded, FBI Special Agent Michael Ilmanen wrote in an affidavit seeking an arrest warrant for the couple.
Even the house itself — a 3,125-square-foot home valued at more than $500,000 — was obtained through fraudulent means, Ilmanen wrote.
The McClendons were arrested earlier this month on suspicion of conspiring to use a false Social Security number, which is punishable by up to five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.
They appeared Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma, where Magistrate Judge J. Kelley Arnold appointed attorneys for them and apprised them of the charge.
Arnold set a detention hearing for Monday. The couple will be held in federal custody until at least then. They have yet to enter a plea.
Federal agents began investigating the couple in March, after the America’s Federal Credit Union Fort Lewis branch filed a complaint alleging that Sonia McClendon had defrauded the institution, according to court documents.
Ilmanen wrote in his affidavit that Sonia McClendon used a fake driver’s license and a fake Social Security number to open checking and savings accounts at the credit union in order to obtain a credit card.
She then charged more than $25,000 on the card before paying off the balance with bad checks, Ilmanen said.
Sonia McClendon also defrauded a family of more than $65,000, the special agent said.
She claimed to be a sick millionaire from Panama who couldn’t access her money, according to court records. She showed family members checks made out to her for millions of dollars, then asked them to use their credit cards to pay for her cancer treatment, Ilmanen wrote in his affidavit.
“Sonia McClendon quickly charged all available balances for her own personal use,” the special agent reported.
Federal agents claim she spent more than $65,000 on furniture and other merchandise in a month’s time.
She also convinced the patriarch of the family to co-sign a $61,000 loan for a Chrysler 300 automobile, the affidavit states.
In May, the couple used false identities to convince a local car dealership to finance a 2007 GMC Savannah Van, Ilmanen said. Irvin McClendon claimed to be a major and a pilot and provided a fake military ID card in applying for the loan, the special agent wrote.
Irvin McClendon is a member of the 4th Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment at Fort Lewis and a 17-year soldier, according to Army records.
His wife, now five months pregnant, moved to the United States from Panama in 1994 and has an extensive criminal record involving fraud, Ilmanen said.
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