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Beltsville Man Sentenced to 17 Years for Credit Card Schemes
Grimy Times Investigation: A 28-year-old man from Beltsville, Maryland has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for running two separate credit card fraud schemes, one of which he committed while awaiting sentencing for the first scheme.
Oluwaseun Sanya was sentenced to 212 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte, who also ordered Sanya to pay restitution of $251,712.87 and entered a forfeiture order for the same amount. Sanya also forfeited a Range Rover and Maserati luxury sports car as part of this case.
The schemes, which impacted over 250 victims, involved Sanya recruiting employees at restaurants and businesses to steal customer credit card information, which was then loaded onto gift cards or encoded onto other credit or debit cards. These cards were used to buy merchandise at area businesses, and the merchandise was later returned in exchange for cash.
However, Sanya’s crimes didn’t stop there. While awaiting sentencing for the first scheme, Sanya committed credit card fraud and aggravated identity theft again, this time using stolen credit card account numbers to purchase legitimate gift cards. Security officials at the Wegman’s grocery store chain detected the fraudulent activity and alerted law enforcement.
On September 15, 2012, Sanya and his accomplices were stopped by local law enforcement after attempting to buy gift cards using several counterfeit credit cards at different registers throughout a Wegman’s store in Abingdon, Maryland. Inside the vehicle, police officers seized roughly $11,000 worth of legitimate gift cards that the women had purchased at Sanya’s direction using 33 counterfeit credit cards.
Dimitria Limnios, 22, of Glen Burnie, Maryland, and Monet Griffin, 24, of Baltimore, Maryland, previously pleaded guilty to their participation in the first fraud scheme and face a maximum penalty of seven and a half years for conspiracy to commit access device fraud. Limnios has agreed to pay at least $148,191.04 in restitution and forfeiture, while Griffin has agreed to pay at least $27,409.57 in restitution and forfeiture.
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Key Facts
- State: Maryland
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release ↗
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