Nenita Chiffon Barnes, Alicia Shante Stewart Indicted in Alabama Counterfeit Card Ring

BIRMINGHAM — A federal grand jury has indicted two Atlanta women in a brazen counterfeit credit card operation that bled cash from Regions Bank across north Alabama. Nenita Chiffon Barnes, 40, and Alicia Shante Stewart, 34, face a five-count indictment for allegedly creating and using fake credit cards loaded with stolen financial data to make illicit purchases and withdrawals between October 2015 and April 13, 2016.

Charged with conspiracy to defraud Regions Bank, both women also face counts of bank fraud and possession of more than 15 counterfeit credit cards in Calhoun County on April 13. The indictment details how Barnes and Stewart traveled across state lines into the Northern District of Alabama, hitting multiple Regions Bank branches in a coordinated effort to withdraw cash and buy goods using counterfeit cards tied to real victims’ identities.

Each woman is separately charged with one count of aggravated identity theft. Barnes allegedly used, without authorization, the names and card numbers of four individuals on April 13 in Calhoun County. Stewart is accused of doing the same with three other victims’ identities. The crime isn’t just about the cards—it’s about the people whose lives were hijacked to feed the scheme.

The stakes are high: conspiracy and bank fraud carry maximum sentences of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Possession of more than 15 counterfeit cards brings up to 10 years and a $250,000 penalty. Aggravated identity theft adds a mandatory two-year sentence—on top of any other prison time—and a $250,000 fine. No leniency is built into that clock.

The U.S. Secret Service and the Jacksonville Police Department led the investigation, unraveling a trail of fraudulent transactions and surveillance footage that tied the women to multiple ATM withdrawals and in-branch attempts. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robin Beardsley Mark is prosecuting the case in U.S. District Court, where the machinery of federal justice now grinds toward trial.

An indictment is not a conviction. Nenita Chiffon Barnes and Alicia Shante Stewart are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. But the charges paint a clear picture: a calculated, mobile fraud ring exploiting stolen identities for cold, hard cash across state lines.