August 7, 2014

First Defendant Sentenced in Identity Theft Fraud Scheme Involving Personal Identifying Information from AT&T Customer Files

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Donnell Young, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), and George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, announce that U.S. District Judge Marcia G. Cooke sentenced Chouman Emily Syrilien, 25, of Lauderdale Lakes, to 34 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release.

Syrilien previously pled guilty to one count of possession of 15 or more unauthorized access devices and one count of aggravated identity theft, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1029(a)(3) and 1028A for participating in a conspiracy to unjustly enrich themselves by stealing personal identifying information and using the information to make unauthorized wire transfers from the victims’ bank accounts and obtain unauthorized credit or debit cards.

Co-defendants Jacqueline Nicole Lee Warrick, 26, of Miami, and Tracy Delva, 27, of Deerfield Beach, pled guilty on July 30, 2014, and Carlos Antonio Alexander, 24, of Orlando, pled guilty on July 16, 2014, to one count of using an authorized access device and one count of aggravated identity theft, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1029(a)(2) and 1028A. Alexander’s sentencing is scheduled for October 1, 2014. Sentencing for Warrick and Delva is scheduled for October 15, 2014.

Co-defendant Angel Arcos, 23, of Pompano Beach, pled guilty on May 15, 2014, to one count conspiracy to commit bank fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1349. Arcos’ sentencing is scheduled for September 3, 2014 at 2:00 p.m.

Change of plea hearings are scheduled on September 3, 2014, for Monique Smith, 31, of Pompano Beach, and Shantegra La’Shae Godfrey, 23, of Deerfield Beach.

Trial is scheduled on September 22, 2014, for Arrington Basil Segu, 28, of Miami.

According to court documents, defendant Syrilien was employed by Interactive Response Technologies, Inc. (IRT) located in Margate. IRT provides staffing for call centers to handle direct sales and customer inquiries for AT&T. Syrilien unlawfully provided a co-conspirator with the personal identifying information from multiple AT&T customer files. Defendant Segu also unlawfully provided personal identifying information of numerous individuals to the co-conspirator.

Defendants Alexander, Delva, Godfrey, Smith and Warrick were added as “authorized users” on victims’ credit or debit card accounts or bank accounts to access the accounts of persons whose personal identifying information had been stolen. Once a co-conspirator’s name was added as an “authorized user,” the bank and/or credit card company was directed to mail additional debit or credit cards bearing the names of these newly added “authorized users” to their addresses or addresses under their control, all without the true account holder’s knowledge or consent. The defendants used these credit and debit cards to make purchases or obtain money.

Defendants Delva and Warrick both utilized fraudulently obtained debit and credit cards that bore their names as additional “authorized users” on victims’ accounts to make both retail purchases as well as cash advances in excess of $28,000. Defendants Alexander, Smith and Godfrey made retail purchases as well as cash advances in excess of $24,000, $12,000 and $8,200, respectively.

Defendant Arcos allowed his personal information to be used to open a bank account to further the fraudulent activity. From September 16 to 18, 2013, five withdrawals totaling $13,000 were made from the fraudulent account and deposited into Arcos’ checking account.

The defendants face a maximum of thirty years in prison for the conspiracy charge, a maximum of ten years in prison for the access device fraud charge, and a mandatory term of two years in prison for the aggravated identity theft charge.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of IRS-CI and FBI. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Cynthia R. Wood.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.