FRESNO  -   On March 12, a federal grand jury brought a five-count indictment against an assistant manager of the Clovis California Walmart, charging her with bank fraud and use of unauthorized credit cards, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.

According to court documents, Alena Nicole George, 42, obtained the personally identifiable information (PII) of individuals with names similar to her own name and obtained credit cards in those individuals’ names. For one such credit card, George made at least $100,000 in fraudulent purchases and cash advances. She was arrested today and is scheduled to be arraigned on Thursday.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Vincente Tennerelli and Joseph Barton are prosecuting the case.

If convicted, George faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine for bank fraud and a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the unauthorized use of credit cards. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

The charges are only allegations; the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.