Woman using fake Social Security numbers to rent Madison apartments sentenced to prison
MADISON, Wis. — A Chicago woman was sentenced to prison this week for using fake information in an attempt to rent apartments in Madison, officials said.
The office for United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin Scott C. Blader said Tuesday that 34-year-old Farkhanda Muhammad was sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson to six months in federal prison for fraudulently representing that a Social Security number was hers to apply for a Madison apartment.
Muhammad pleaded guilty to the charge on July 14.
According to the release, out of the six Madison apartments that Muhammad rented using false names and Social Security numbers, four were for Martell Norris. Norris was a kilogram-level cocaine dealer that Peterson sentenced to 15 years in federal prison on Jan. 23, 2020. Peterson found that, although Muhammad was not directly implicated in Norris’s drug sales, she “turned a blind eye” to how Norris used the apartments to sustain his cocaine distribution network.
In addition to the six-month prison term, the court ordered Muhammad to pay $17,945 to the apartment building owners, according to the release.
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