In March 2025, Sarai Jamila Nyasha Freeman, a 41-year-old from Aurora, Colorado, was found guilty by a federal jury on multiple charges. These included two counts of passing and uttering counterfeit obligations and securities, two counts of aggravated identity theft, and one count for failing to appear for her trial initially set for December 2024.
U.S. District Judge Gregory K. Frizzell has sentenced Freeman to 48 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Additionally, she is required to pay $2,826 in restitution.
Freeman’s indictment in July 2024 stemmed from her fraudulent use of a deceased person’s identity to cash two counterfeit U.S. Treasury checks in Sand Springs, Oklahoma, back in 2020. This resulted in a total loss of $2,826. Her activities were part of a broader operation that spanned several states from Louisiana to Colorado. She also cashed checks fraudulently in Missouri and Arkansas.
While on pretrial bond, Freeman requested and received a plane ticket for out-of-state travel but did not appear for her trial. She was later arrested in Colorado by the U.S. Marshal Service for this failure to appear.
Prior to the incidents involving U.S. Treasury checks, Freeman had been arrested and charged at the state level after cashing four other fraudulent checks. Similar to her federal case, she failed to appear after being released on state bond, leading to bench warrants.
Freeman will remain in custody until she is transferred to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
The investigation involved several agencies including the U.S. Department of the Treasury Office of Inspector General, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, Wal-Mart Global Investigations, with assistance from the U.S. Marshals Service during her arrest.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys David D. Whipple and Charles Greenough handled the prosecution.
