Dominican Man Sentenced To 61 Months In Prison For Wire Fraud And Identity Theft

Johnny Santiago Valdez Calderon, 24, a dual citizen of the United States and the Dominican Republic, was sentenced on March 27, 2017, to serve 61 months in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release, for engaging in a wire fraud and identity theft scheme, announced Jack Smith, Acting United States Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee.

According to testimony at a plea hearing in September 2016, Valdez Calderon discovered a technique by which he was able to submit fraudulent online claims to a Tennessee company engaged in the business of selling insurance policies on mobile telephones. By assuming the identities of customers of that company, Valdez Calderon was able to cause that company to ship approximately 2,499 replacement telephones to various addresses in the United States, from which the telephones were collected by individuals who were aiding Valdez Calderon in the scheme. The total value of the fraudulently obtained cellular telephones was approximately $1,144,783.

Valdez Calderon also was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $1,144,783.54. He has been in custody since his arrest on September 11, 2015.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Byron Jones of the Middle District of Tennessee and Senior Counsel Anthony V. Teelucksingh of the U.S. Department of Justice, Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property Section are prosecuting the case.