Minnesota Man Sentenced To 8 Years For Fraud And Identity Theft

Orlando, Florida – Senior U.S. District Judge John Antoon II today sentenced Ahmed Jibrell (37, St. Paul, Minnesota) to 8 years in federal prison for credit card fraud and identity theft. Jibrell is the seventeenth individual sentenced for his involvement in a nationwide conspiracy in which credit card numbers stolen from U.S. companies by international computer hackers were sold and used fraudulently in the United States.

Since August 2011, Judge Antoon has sentenced the following sixteen others for their participation in this credit card fraud conspiracy:

• Ruel Brown (37, South Carolina) was sentenced to 14 years and 4 months in prison.
• Troy Henry (37, Florida) was sentenced to 13 years and 4 months in prison.
• Chad Warner (31, Florida) was sentenced to 11 years and 3 months in prison.
• Randall Rodgers (32, California) was sentenced to 10 years and 1 month in prison.
• Gary Washington (33, Florida) was sentenced to 8 years and 9 months in prison.
• Derrick Dean (48, New York) was sentenced to 7 years in prison.
• Victor Lindsey (23, New Jersey) was sentenced to 5 years in prison.
• Erica Roberson (23, Florida) was sentenced to 5 years in prison.
• Nancy Major (21, Florida) was sentenced to 5 years in prison.
• Stacie Glapion (29, Florida) was sentenced to 3 years and 10 months in prison.
• Jenna Larson (22, Florida) was sentenced to 3 years and 2 months in prison.
• Ceaundra Thomas (21, Orlando) was sentenced to 3 years and 2 months in prison.
• Olivia Embry (25, Tennessee) was sentenced to 2 years and 10 months in prison.
• Cassandra Navarro (22, Florida) was sentenced to 2 years and 10 months in prison.
• Paige Savant (20, Florida) was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison.
• Brandy Cannon (21, Florida) was sentenced to 2 years in prison.

According to court documents, the fraud and identity theft in this case was discovered when agents learned that the computer servers of a hotel in San Diego, California had been compromised, or "hacked," and thousands of credit card numbers and related identification information had been stolen. Agents later learned that the stolen credit card numbers were being used at retail stores throughout Central Florida and elsewhere in the United States. The conspirators in Central Florida, California, Minnesota, South Carolina, New York, New Jersey, and elsewhere in the United States, purchased stolen credit card information over the Internet from a conspirator based in the country of Azerbaijan, where the conspirators sent international wire transfers to pay for the stolen credit card information. Once the conspirators purchased the stolen credit card information, they used device-making equipment, such as re-encoding machines and computer software, to re-encode blank gift cards with the stolen credit card information. The conspirators then used the re-encoded gift cards at retail stores to purchase actual gift cards and other merchandise.

Each individual sentenced had a particular role in the conspiracy, from leaders, such as Chad Warner and Randall Rodgers, to the persons who entered the retail stores and used the counterfeit credit cards, such as Nancy Major. Ahmed Jibrell both created the re-encoded cards and also served as a sort of travel service for many of the other conspirators, using stolen credit card and identification information to book airfare and hotels for the conspirators and allowing them to travel throughout the United States.

"The sentencing of Ahmed Jibrell is is yet another example of how the Secret Service continues to successfully combat credit card theft and identity crimes,” said Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service Orlando Field Office Dennis Ramos Martinez. “The Secret Service utilized state-of-the-art investigative techniques to dismantle this criminal network. Our success in this case and other similar investigations is a result of the extraordinary work of our investigators and our close work with our network of law enforcement partners.”

This case was investigated by the United States Secret Service. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Daniel C. Irick.