GREENSBORO – A former hotel employee was sentenced in federal court in Winston-Salem today for attempted wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, announced United States Attorney Sandra J. Hairston of the Middle District of North Carolina.
AUTUMN TIARA TATIYANA NICOL WILLIAMS, age 24, of Greensboro, North Carolina, was sentenced to a total of 61 months of imprisonment by the Honorable Loretta Copeland Biggs, United States District Judge in the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina. In addition to prison time, WILLIAMS was ordered to serve three years of supervised release and to pay $276,570.40 in restitution and special assessments totaling $200.00. She pleaded guilty on February 9, 2022, to attempted wire fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1343, and aggravated identity theft, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1028A(a)(1).
According to court records, WILLIAMS, also known as “Autumn Tiara Frierson,” worked as a front-desk employee at various hotels in Winston-Salem, and Greensboro, North Carolina. In that capacity, WILLIAMS had access to the credit card information from guests of the hotels. WILLIAMS organized a scheme to defraud in which she fraudulently booked rooms using the credit card information of former guests without authorization. She frequently did so by sending the hotel a credit card authorization form, purportedly signed by the card holder. Those forms allowed the local hotel to type credit card information manually without swiping the card itself. WILLIAMS would then sell the fraudulently booked rooms for cash at a steep discount, telling buyers that she was a travel agent or hotel employee able to secure rooms cheaply. She found prospective buyers through word-of-mouth and Facebook.
The court sentenced WILLIAMS to 37 months for attempted wire fraud and 24 months for aggravated identity theft. Under federal law, a defendant convicted of aggravated identity theft must be sentenced to a 24-month term of imprisonment consecutive to any other term of incarceration.
The investigation was undertaken by the United States Secret Service with assistance from the Winston-Salem Police Department and the Greensboro Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Tanner Kroeger.