Greenbelt, Maryland – A newly filed federal superseding indictment adds bank fraud and aggravated identity theft charges against Glenda Hodges, age 69, of Clinton, Maryland, who was already facing wire fraud, bank fraud, and aggravated identity theft charges in connection with the misuse of federal funds and other fraud related to non-profit and for-profit entities that Hodges operated. The new bank fraud charges relate to a fraud allegedly committed while Hodges was on pretrial release for the wire fraud charges.  The superseding indictment was returned on March 10, 2021.  At a hearing today in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Hodges was ordered to be detained pending trial for violating the conditions of her pre-trial release.

The superseding indictment was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner;  Special Agent in Charge Kenneth R. Dieffenbach of the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Inspector General, Fraud Detection Office; Maryland State Prosecutor Charlton T. Howard III; and Special Agent in Charge Jennifer C. Boone of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office.

According to the 12-count superseding indictment, between October 9, 2020 and October 21, 2020, while on pretrial release, Hodges allegedly defrauded her fourth victim by claiming she would monitor the victim’s finances while the victim prepared to move out of state. Hodges assured the victim that she would return the funds once the victim was settled in her new location. Hodges drove the victim to her financial institution and procured a check for $71,731.85, which Hodges deposited into her own bank account. Hodges then allegedly spent the victim’s money on personal expenditures, without the victim’s authorization, and failed to repay the victim.

According to the superseding indictment, Hodges owned and was the Chief Executive Officer of Still I Rise Incorporated, a non-profit entity which purported to provide services and resources to minority survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking; Still I Rise Comprehensive Support & Training Services LLC (“CSST”), a for-profit entity; and the Women’s Wellness Center (WWC), a for-profit medical weight loss clinic operated under the umbrella of CSST. Between 2010 and 2017, Hodges was awarded more than $2 million in grants from the United States Department of Justice’s (“DOJ”) Office of Violence Against Women (“OVW”) and Prince George’s County to implement a violence against women program through Still I Rise.

The three grants that DOJ OVW awarded Hodges and Still I Rise were authorized only for the stated purpose of implementing Still I Rise’s non-profit program to address violence against women.  Specifically, Hodges represented that the funds would be used to provide community services related to violence against women, including crisis intervention, support groups, financial and employment counseling, material assistance, job training, advocacy, court and medical accompaniment, language services, and transportation.  Hodges allegedly represented that she would accept only a $12,000 stipend each year as the Director of Still I Rise.  However, the superseding indictment alleges that Hodges converted funding from the grant awards to her personal benefit and to pay WWC payroll and other WWC expenses.  By 2016, Hodges had exhausted the grant funding and her companies were financially distressed.  The superseding indictment alleges that Hodges then used fraudulent means to inject additional funding into WWC and Still I Rise.

Specifically, the superseding indictment alleges that on October 9, 2015, Hodges caused $134,800 to be stolen from Victim 1—a mutual fund in Pennsylvania—and wired into a bank account associated with Still I Rise, and then used the stolen funds for expenditures at WWC and for her personal benefit.  In addition, on April 8, 2016, Hodges deposited a $72,938 altered business check related to a federal cancer research grant that had allegedly been stolen from Victim 2, a prominent university in Texas, into a different bank account opened in the name of Still I Rise and over which Hodges was the sole authorized signer.

Further, the superseding indictment alleges that between March 10 and August 26, 2016, Hodges fraudulently opened credit accounts at two financial institutions using the identifying information of Victim 3, an elderly volunteer at Still I Rise, without the victim’s knowledge or permission, accumulating at least $45,000 in debt.  According to court documents, to secure one of the lines of credit, Hodges had Victim 3 medically transported to a nearby bank. When Victim 3 was brought to the bank, Victim 3 was in pain and in a wheelchair, and had an antibiotic catheter line running to her heart.

Finally, the superseding indictment alleges that, as the owner of WWC, and to preserve the medical clinic’s capital, Hodges directed her medical practitioners to inject saline solution into patients rather than Lipo-C, a weight-loss injection therapy requested by patients, and issued nonsufficient funds checks to her employees..

If convicted, Hodges faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each of three counts of bank fraud and seven counts wire fraud.  Hodges also faces a mandatory sentence of two years in federal prison, consecutive to any other sentence imposed, for each of two counts of aggravated identity theft.  Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.  Hodges is expected to have an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, but no date has been scheduled.

A superseding indictment is not a finding of guilt.  An individual charged by superseding indictment is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings.

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General, the Office of the Maryland State Prosecutor, and the FBI for its work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly O. Hayes, who is prosecuting the case.

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