Ten charged with unlawfully using over 3,800 credit card numbers
MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- A federal grand jury recently returned a 33-count indictment charging ten defendants with various credit card fraud and identity theft offenses, including a conspiracy to use stolen credit card information to make over $1.7 million in fraudulent transactions.
The defendants are identified as: 24-year-old Ashley Dover, 33-year-old Danny Jones, 40-year-old Cornelius Mitchell, 54-year-old Henry Jackson , 40-year-old Kevin Wright, 48-year-old Anthony Turner, 51-year-old Kevin Ware, 49-year-old Alonzo Gray, 22-year-old Tyree Williams, 39-year-old and Earl Rawls. Mitchell, Wright, Turner and Gray reside in Milwaukee. Jones, Williams and Rawls live in Chicago, Illinois. Jackson resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Ware lives in Houston, Texas. Dover resides in Kentucky.
The last of the defendants charged in the indictment was arrested last week in Chicago, which prompted the unsealing of the case and this announcement of the charges against all defendants.
According to the indictment, the coconspirators obtained and distributed over 3,800 stolen credit card numbers, as well as the names and other identifying information that were associated with those credit card accounts. The defendants would then use the stolen credit card information to purchase tickets primarily to sporting and entertainment events throughout the United States. The defendants and those under their direction and control would then “scalp” the tickets that they purchased fraudulently outside of a variety of sporting and entertainment venues.
The venue outside of which the defendants sold tickets obtained with stolen credit card information included Miller Park, the Bradley Center, the Rave Eagles Club, the Marcus Center, the Pabst Theater, the Riverside Theater, Camp Randall Stadium, the Resch Center, and Lambeau Field. They also sold tickets obtained with stolen credit card information in other states, including in Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, California, Missouri, Utah, Nebraska, Florida, Texas and Maine. The defendants additionally used the stolen credit card information to fund their travel.
All of the defendants face a maximum of 7.5 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and up to 3 years of supervised release if convicted of the conspiracy, as charged in Count One of the indictment.
Additionally, defendants Mitchell, Wright, Turner, Ware and Gray face an additional maximum of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and up to 3 years of supervised release for each count of access device fraud, as charged in Counts Two and Three of the indictment. Defendants Mitchell, Jones, Dover, Jackson, Ware, and Williams also were charged for aggravated identity theft in Counts Four through Thirty-Three, which carry a mandatory minimum of 2 years in prison, as well as up to a $250,000 fine and 1 year of supervised release.
In announcing this indictment, United States Attorney Santelle stated: “As this significant, multi-defendant case reflects, the Justice Department here in Eastern Wisconsin and nationwide U.S. Department of Justice United States Attorney Eastern District of Wisconsin continues its acutely targeted work in addressing the terrible economic consequences of identity theft on behalf of its many victims and the community at large. People and organizations that engage in financial crimes of this sort will not only be prevented from profiting further from it but will also face serious incarceration and monetary penalties.” Santelle commended the focused, productive investigative work of both the United States Secret Service, including especially its Financial Crimes Task Force and the Milwaukee Police Department in pursuing and completing effectively this long-term criminal investigation.
"This investigation is a fine example of alert police work where asking the next question can lead to the uncovering of more serious crimes and proves there's no such thing as a routine call for service,” stated Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn.
An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt.
A defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government must prove guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.