October 14, 2009
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News: Atlanta Locks Up CC Thieves
Authorities do another fine job in nabbing credit card and identity thieves. Atlanta police are responsible for the apprehension and conviction of four individuals preying on innocent victims by intercepting mail with pre-approved credit card applications. The four men included two illegal aliens also illegally obtained the dates of birth and social security numbers of the victims and then submitted the pre-approved applications with a change of address. Credit card companies involved were American Express, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Capital One. Arrested and sentenced for their crimes Carlton J. Maxey, Lee Sterling Brockwell, Aghedo Pius Iyamu, and James O. Omotosho.
All of the criminals participated in the acquiring the credit card applications while Iyamu also stole an American Express from the mail and then fraudulently activated the card. Lee Sterling Brockwell worked for the Gucci store where he sold thousands of dollars to Omotosho and Iyamu know the credit cards were obtained illegally. Maxey worked for the Louis Vuitton store at the Lenox Mall in Atlanta and was also familiar with Lyamu. He alone sold Iyamu a watch for over $20,000 which he used to purchase with a stolen American Express card with another individuals name. Totally, all four were responsible for committing over $1.3 million in fraud.
Omotosho, Iyamu, Brockwell, and Maxey all committed fraud through various banks by opening accounts under aliases and then using those accounts to deposit stolen funds from other bank accounts at the Bremer Bank of Minnesota. The criminals also stole credit card checks to legitimate individuals and then deposited the checks into the fraudulent bank accounts. After stock piling the fraudulent accounts, Omotosho, Iyamu and others would deplete the accounts before victims discovered what had happened and notified the authorities. For their part in the criminal activities, Maxey was sentenced to two years in prison; Brockwell was sentenced to four months in a halfway house to be followed by four months of house arrest; Omotosho, an illegal immigrant, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Iyamu, also an illegal alien, was sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison. Both Iyamu and Omotosho will be deported to Nigeria after they serve their prison terms. All four were also ordered to pay restitution.