Federal prosecutors secured convictions against Jael Watts and Luis Pino-Copete after a jury found they used stolen identities and forged documents to pursue government reimbursements through Pearl Transit Corporation. Trial evidence tied more than $1.62 million in fraudulent payments to programs in Georgia, California and North Carolina and showed the defendants spent large sums on luxury goods and travel. The indictment says the couple created a fake verification company, falsified driver and rider records (including listing deceased people as passengers) and used foreign documents to conceal payments. Sentencing is set for Jan. 21, 2027.
Transit Nonprofit Convicted After Audit Exposes $13M Reimbursement Fraud Scheme
Image Credit: U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of New York / trial exhibit.
Federal prosecutors secured convictions against Jael Watts and her husband, Luis Pino-Copete, after a jury found the couple used stolen identities and fabricated documents to pursue government reimbursements through Pearl Transit Corporation, a New Jersey nonprofit. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of New York announced the convictions on Oct. 2.
Case Overview
Watts, 45, of Alloway, New Jersey, and Pino-Copete, 42, of Bogota, Colombia, were found guilty following a multi-week jury trial in Utica, New York. Prosecutors say the fraud attributed to Watts spanned from July 2019 through October 2025; Pino-Copete reportedly joined the scheme in January 2024. Sentencing is scheduled before U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Brindisi on Jan. 21, 2027.
The third superseding indictment alleges Watts discussed creating a report and provider after state auditors asked for verification records and later submitted reports attributed to a fictitious company called Actual Check. Source: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York.
How the Scheme Worked
According to the third superseding indictment and trial evidence, Pearl Transit claimed to operate a nationwide network of drivers and to provide transportation and outreach services funded by federal programs overseen by the Department of Transportation and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Prosecutors say many of those services never occurred.
Investigators found that the defendants inserted real people’s personal information into employee and passenger records without consent. Some individuals listed as passengers had already died by the dates the company claimed to have transported them. Other people were listed as drivers despite lacking valid licenses—one was documented as having only a learner's permit during the period Pearl Transit claimed they provided rides.
Jael Watts and Luis Pino-Copete visiting a BMW facility in a photograph introduced during their federal trial. Prosecutors said the couple spent fraud proceeds on luxury purchases and international travel. Source: U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of New York / trial exhibit.
Falsified Documents And A Fake Vendor
Prosecutors allege Watts and Pino-Copete used names, addresses, dates of birth and driver’s license data to create false documents portraying strangers as Pearl Transit employees or customers. When auditors requested verification records, the defendants reportedly created documents attributed to a fictitious third-party verifier called Actual Check, including a website, logo and voicemail system produced by a contractor.
The indictment also alleges the defendants used a Bancolombia bank statement and an older Colombian insurance policy to fabricate records showing payments to New York drivers from a Colombian account and insurance for a Mercedes Sprinter in Colombia.
The Justice Department said this trial image shows Luis Pino-Copete displaying cash obtained from a homeless dental client while Jael Watts was incarcerated. Source: U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of New York / trial exhibit.
Money Traced And Spending
Although Pearl Transit sought more than $13 million in federal reimbursements over the life of the alleged scheme, trial evidence showed the defendants fraudulently obtained more than $1.62 million. The Justice Department identified specific payments: $529,500 in Community Development Block Grant funds through Gwinnett County, Georgia; $429,885 in Section 5310 transportation funding through Los Angeles County; $283,000 in Emergency Solutions Grant funding through Kern County, California; and $379,149 in transportation funding administered through Raleigh, North Carolina.
Bank-account evidence presented at trial showed more than $1.5 million of the money obtained from Georgia, North Carolina and California went to the defendants’ personal expenses, including luxury rentals (more than $100,000 in Porsche rentals), more than $100,000 in designer purchases from Loro Piana, and extensive international travel in 2024 to Colombia, Aruba and Europe.
The third superseding indictment contains 10 federal counts involving false statements, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and use of a false document. Source: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York.
Additional Allegations
Trial exhibits also alleged the couple sought housing-program reimbursements by claiming Pearl Transit provided free dental prostheses to homeless clients. Prosecutors say dentures were actually produced at their home using an allegedly unsanitary 3-D printer while clients were billed for mouth scans and fittings. The third superseding indictment contains 10 federal counts, including false statements, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, conspiracy and use of a false document.
Verdicts And Potential Penalties
The jury convicted Watts on all counts against her: one false-statement count, two aggravated identity-theft counts, five wire-fraud counts, one conspiracy-to-commit-wire-fraud count and one false-document count. Pino-Copete was convicted on three counts: conspiracy to commit wire fraud, use of a false document and aggravated identity theft.
Both defendants face sentencing on Jan. 21, 2027, with statutory exposure that includes a mandatory minimum of two years for certain counts, possible prison terms up to 20 years, fines up to $250,000 per count, up to three years of supervised release and prosecutors’ proposed restitution of at least $1.9 million.
Resources For People Whose Identities May Have Been Misused
Authorities recommend victims take immediate steps to protect their identities. The Federal Trade Commission’s IdentityTheft.gov provides recovery guidance; the Social Security Administration suggests reviewing earnings records for unfamiliar wages; and consumers can order credit reports from the three major credit bureaus to detect fraudulent accounts.
Source: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York; U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of New York.
Help us improve.
