Local woman who sold children's SSNs sentenced to prison

HOUSTON Carlin Joubert, 55, was sentenced to 12 months for the conspiracy to produce false identification documents conviction and a consecutive 12-month prison term for the aggravated identity theft conviction. Joubert must also pay restitution in the amount of $580,125 and serve a three-year-term of supervised release upon completion of her prison term.

According to the public record in this case, Joubert operated Edington and Associates in southwest Houston, which held itself out as a credit repair business. However, Joubert also gave clients the option of paying more to obtain a new Social Security number. With this option, she would provide the client with a new SSN, which typically belonged to a child so that the credit history would be clean. Joubert would then add the SSN to existing lines of credit so a positive credit history would be created for the number.

Joubert would also obtain for her clients a fraudulent Social Security card listing the client's name and the SSN assigned to the child.

She provided a number to an individual who used it to purchase a home in the Montrose area during 2007 as part of a mortgage fraud scheme. In this scheme, straw buyers purchased homes at inflated values so that large sums, typically exceeding $100,000, could be diverted to a company called CLC holdings, owned by Craig Curtis.

In addition, Joubert provided Curtis with a child's SSN, which he used in applying for a loan to purchase an Aston-Martin. Curtis, the organizer of the scheme, received more than $1 million in fraudulent proceeds and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. The eight other defendants charged in this mortgage fraud conspiracy, including loan processors, an appraiser, recruiters and a straw buyer, were also sentenced to terms of imprisonment.

Charges were later filed in the Southern District of Texas against John Hill, of Tennessee, and Alan Magodoro, of California, the individuals who supplied Joubert with the children's Social Security numbers.