ANCHORAGE, Alaska – An Anchorage woman was arrested Wednesday in Anchorage after a federal grand jury in Alaska returned an indictment last month alleging she executed a wire and bank fraud scheme where she stole victims’ personal identifying information to use in fraudulently obtaining funds from several Alaskan organizations and financial institutions.

According to court documents, between February 2021 and February 2022, Dusty Starr, 47, devised and executed a scheme to defraud and obtain money from victims through materially false and fraudulent pretenses.

The indictment alleges Starr executed a wire fraud scheme using stolen identities to fraudulently apply for rent relief funds available during the pandemic. On one occasion in July 2021, Starr applied for rent relief funds using a fraudulently created email account with information stolen from a victim. Starr used the victim’s stolen identity and a fraudulent business certificate she obtained in the victim’s name for an LLC to apply. In the application, Starr falsely claimed that the victim was a landlord needing help with a renter who could not pay rent. Between July and November 2021, three separate payments were made to a bank account Starr fraudulently opened in the victim’s name and that Starr controlled. The three payments totaled to over $17,000. Starr used similar conduct on other occasions to obtain additional funds. The total estimated loss from Starr’s fraudulent applications for rent relief is over $47,500.

Court documents also allege that Starr committed bank fraud by forging checks belonging to Alaska organizations to steal funds from their accounts at various financial institutions. On one occasion in September 2021, Starr deposited a forged check funded from a religious organization’s account at a federally insured financial institution to a different account in her name for $918. The organization reported the check and others to the Alaska State Troopers (AST). AST and the financial institution identified five fraudulent checks and one unauthorized electronic funds transfer from the organization’s account. The religious organization’s total estimated loss from the fraudulent transactions is over $6,250. Starr used similar conduct on other occasions to steal additional funds from other Alaska organizations.

Starr is charged with three counts of wire fraud, three counts of bank fraud, three counts of aggravated identity theft and two counts of possession of stolen mail. The defendant is scheduled to make her initial court appearance on Jan. 20, 2026, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kyle F. Reardon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska. If convicted, she faces a mandatory minimum sentence of two years for each aggravated identity theft charge, and up to 30 years in prison for the other charges. A federal district judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

U.S. Attorney Michael J. Heyman of the District of Alaska, Inspector in Charge Anthony Galetti of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service Seattle Division Office and Chief Sean Case of the Anchorage Police Department made the announcement.

More information about this case is available at www.justice.gov/usao-ak/united-states-v-dusty-starr. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service Anchorage Domicile and APD are investigating the case, with assistance from the U.S. Postal Service, Office of Inspector General. If anyone has information concerning Starr’s alleged actions, please contact the USPIS Hotline at 877-876-2455 or online at USPIS.gov/report. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Stewart is prosecuting the case.

An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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