Bozeman Bank Fraud Suspect Gets 6.5-Year Prison Term Kevin Dixon Sentenced This Week in Sacramento

One of the defendants who defrauded banks in Bozeman and across the nation using a cash card scheme will serve 6.5 years in prison for the crime. On Monday, United States District Judge Frank C. Damrell, Jr. sentenced 38-year-old Kevin James Dixon, of Oregon, to 78 months in prison and ordered him to pay restitution. Dixon is the third defendant sentenced for the crime. He pleaded guilty to one count of interstate transportation of money obtained by fraud. Dixon was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California.

The FBI’s Bozeman, Montana Resident Agency and the Bozeman Police Department initiated a joint investigation in 2007. They traced the scheme to eleven banks in Bozeman and Livingston, Montana. According to plea agreements filed in United States District Court, the group purchased pre-paid credit cards. The “co-schemers loaded cards with small amounts of money but used them to withdraw as much as $9,500 through fraudulent cash advance transactions.” “Runners” would ask unsuspecting tellers to dial a toll-free number. Bank tellers had no idea the person answering their calls was in on the scheme. That person posed as a card service representative, convinced the tellers the cash cards were worth more and instructed them to push certain buttons on the banks’ machines. The transactions would clear and the “runners” would walk away with thousands of dollars. The funds were shared among the co-conspirators.

Defendants Charles Barksdale and Patience Isaacs are also serving prison terms for the scheme. Barksdale was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California and was sentenced in August to 10 years and 10 months in prison. Isaacs was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Montana and in January was sentenced to a 27-month prison term. Donald Taylor is scheduled to be sentenced in Sacramento on November 9, 2009.

Federal and local agencies worked together on this case including the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California, the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Montana, the Salt Lake City FBI Office, the United States Secret Service San Francisco Field Office, the Bozeman, Montana Police Department and the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.