Authorities said a man who earlier convinced a female SunTrust Bank teller to switch money into his PayPal account on numerous occasions later talked another woman into forging the name of a federal judge to try to get him released from a federal hold.
Shaun Kidd has pleaded guilty to the latter charge and will be sentenced Oct. 1 by Judge Curtis Collier. The fake signature was that of Federal Judge Sandy Mattice.
Jett Varner pleaded guilty earlier to her part in the latest Kidd scheme.
She got three years probation and must perform 800 hours of community service.
Kidd was serving time in state prison when the attempt was made to drop the hold on the five-year sentence he got in Federal Court on the SunTrust embezzlement case.
The U.S. Marshal's Service in Chattanooga last Nov. 17 received a letter from an official of the Tennessee Department of Corrections saying she had received a "Notice of Amended Detainer" fax related to Kidd from Federal Court in Chattanooga. The letter said the detainer had been lifted as requested.
Realizing that the fax was not authentic, the U.S. Marshal's service got the hold put back in place against Kidd.
Authorities learned that it was actually Ms. Varner who sent the fax at Kidd's urging.
She said she met Kidd about four years ago through a co-worker and they had a two-week relationship that ended abruptly when she discovered that Kidd tried to use her credit cards without her knowledge.
She said she began to see Kidd again in February 2011 when he was in the Hamilton County Jail. She said she saw him every weekend for about five weeks until he was transferred to a prison at Tiptonville. She said they continued to correspond. She then agreed to fax the bogus document.
Kidd faces a new sentence of up to five years in the latest federal case against him.