San Francisco Man Sentenced to 90 Months in Prison for Role in Identity Theft, Document-Making Fraud Scheme

SAN FRANCISCO—A San Francisco man was sentenced yesterday to 90 months in prison for his role in an identity theft and fraudulent document and credit card-making operation, United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello announced.

Jesse Carter, 37, was sentenced yesterday after pleading guilty on Dec. 2, 2009, to one count of mail fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341, and one count of aggravated identity theft in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1028A(a)(1). Carter was indicted by a federal grand jury on April 28, 2009.

According to the plea agreement, Carter admitted to possessing a database of personal identification information for 1,279 individuals, including credit card numbers, names, addresses, and dates of birth. Carter further admitted to acquiring a credit card embosser, a magnetic coding and reading device, stencils of driver’s licenses issued by the State of California, a laminator, blank plastic credit cards, a digital camera, black lights, special paints, and computer software, all used to create fraudulent credit cards and driver’s licenses. Carter admitted that he and others created fraudulent driver’s licenses in other individuals’ names, and that he used counterfeit credit cards and driver’s licenses to defraud banks and credit card issuers.

The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Charles R. Breyer. Judge Breyer also sentenced Carter to three years of supervised release following his prison sentence. The defendant has been in federal custody since May 2009.

This case was prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys David Ward and Jeane Hamilton, with the assistance of Rosario Calderon. The prosecution was the result of a two-year investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Postal Service.

Further Information:

Case #: 09-0444 CRB

A copy of this press release may be found on the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can.

Electronic court filings and further procedural and docket information are available at https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.

Judges’ calendars with schedules for upcoming court hearings can be viewed on the court’s website at www.cand.uscourts.gov.

All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney’s Office should be directed to Jack Gillund at (415) 436-6599 or by e-mail at Jack.Gillund@usdoj.gov.