Lilburn Man Sentenced to Prison for Identity Theft

[Erica Absetz <eabsetz () opensecurityfoundation org>]

http://lilburn.patch.com/articles/lilburn-man-sentenced-to-prison-for-identity-theft

A Lilburn man was sentenced to federal prison Wednesday for his
involvement in a large-scale credit card theft ring involving 10 other
defendants.

Norman Uriah Simmonds, 33, is one of the two leading defendants in the
case, according to a news release. He was sentenced to serve eight
years and six months, followed by three years of supervised release.
He also was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $107,324.

The thefts started from June 2009 to November 2010, according to U.S.
Attorney Sally Quillian Yates, the charges and other information
presented in court. The defendants obtained and possessed electronic
devices referred to as “skimmers,” which are capable of copying and
storing debit and credit card account information.

The 11 defendants, some of whom were employed by restaurant and retail
establishments, used the skimmers to obtain customers' card account
numbers. The restaurants and retail establishments include Shogun
Japanese Steakhouse in Columbus; a Krystal restaurant in Columbus; a
McDonald’s in Atlanta; and Polished Nail Salon in Lawrenceville.

After retrieving the debit and credit card account numbers from the
skimmers and processing the data during the investigation, the
defendants transferred the stolen account numbers to the magnetic
stripes of blank white plastic cards or gift cards using device-making
equipment referred to as “encoders,” which altered the cards’ magnetic
stripes to include the stolen debit and credit card account numbers.
The defendants subsequently used the altered cards to purchase things
of value, including United States postal stamps from Automated Postal
Centers throughout Georgia.

“This case demonstrates that consumers need to be aware of the risks
of using credit cards, and that they need to check their accounts
regularly for unexplained purchases or activity,” said United States
Attorney Sally Quillian Yates.

The other leading defendant in the case, 28-year-old Steven Michael
Jackson, of Atlanta, was sentenced to serve five years and one month,
followed by three years of supervised release. He also was ordered to
pay restitution in the amount of $33,254.

All pleading guilty, the other nine individuals are:

Sean Carlos Deloatch, 27, of Columbus,
Bryan Charles Jones, 33, of Atlanta,
Vanessa Echeverry, 20, of Lawrenceville
Antonio Escobal, 35, of Columbus
Lakeysha Renee Hill, 27, of Columbus
Jerome Christopher Ledgister, 27, of Stockbridge
Dwayne Matthew Neely, 29, of Columbus
Tamicka Lashaun Trice, 28, of Atlanta
Carmen Marie Walker, 25, of Atlanta

Defendants Deloatch, Echeverry and Trice are scheduled to be sentenced
before United States District Court Judge Richard W. Story at 2 p.m.
Wednesday, Feb. 13. The remaining defendants have previously been
sentenced.
_______________________________________________
Dataloss Mailing List (dataloss () datalossdb org)
Archived at http://seclists.org/dataloss/
Unsubscribe at http://datalossdb.org/mailing_list

Supporters:

Risk Based Security (http://www.riskbasedsecurity.com/)
Risk Based Security equips organizations with security intelligence, risk
management services and on-demand security solutions to establish
customized risk-based programs to address information security and
compliance challenges.