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Greenbelt, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte sentenced Travis Lee, a 31-year-old man from La Plata, Maryland, to 75 months in prison for his role in a credit card fraud scheme.
Lee was found guilty of possession of unauthorized access devices, aggravated identity theft, and violating his supervised release in a previous credit card fraud case. The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Brian J. Ebert of the United States Secret Service – Washington Field Office; and Chief J. Thomas Manger of the Montgomery County Police Department.
According to his plea agreement, Lee traveled with Kenneth Clifton Williamson to a shopping mall area in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and taught Williamson how to make fraudulent purchases at department stores using unauthorized debit, credit, and gift cards. Lee manufactured these cards using stolen credit and debit information obtained from illegal online carding forums.
Williamson purchased approximately $1,155 in merchandise at a high-end department store in Chevy Chase using two Visa gift cards, which Lee had encoded with stolen account information. The two then proceeded to a high-end department store in Washington D.C. and repeated the process, again purchasing approximately $1,155 in merchandise using similar fraudulent gift cards.
Law enforcement arrested Lee a few months later and recovered at least 185 gift cards from Lee. A search of the vehicle revealed gift cards, sales receipts, clothing, and other merchandise, a laptop computer, portable wi-fi device, as well as items used to create gift and credit cards encoded with stolen account information.
On October 31, 2015, law enforcement conducted a traffic stop of the vehicle Lee was driving and recovered at least 150 credit and gift cards, an embosser, and other materials indicative of the manufacture of fraudulent credit cards and gift cards. Lee was previously sentenced to 5 months in prison followed by 3 years of supervised release in 2010 for possession of counterfeit access devices and was serving this term when he committed the offenses.
Kenneth Clifton Williamson, age 21, of Washington, D.C. pleaded guilty to his role in the scheme and was sentenced to 4 months in prison. United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the U.S. Secret Service and Montgomery County Police Department, Electronic Crimes Unit for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jennifer R. Sykes and Thomas P. Windom for prosecuting the case.
Key Facts
- State: Maryland
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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