FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	Monday, June 4, 2012
Docket #: 2:11-cr-355-WBS

            SACRAMENTO, Calif. — United States District Judge William B. Shubb sentenced Matthew Gene Ballard, 33, of Manteca, to five years and one month in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release, for mail fraud, bank fraud, credit card fraud, and aggravated identity theft, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced. In addition, Ballard was ordered to pay restitution.

            This case was the product of an investigation by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Lathrop Police Department, and the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Department. Assistant United States Attorney Michelle Rodriguez prosecuted the case.

            According to court documents, between January 31, 2011 and June 21, 2011, Ballard executed a scheme to steal money from banks and merchants in the central valley of California and elsewhere. Ballard first used a victim’s identity to open a UPS Store mailbox in Modesto and then had fraudulently issued credit cards and other financial and identity information mailed to himself. Ballard used victims’ identification information to make counterfeit driver’s licenses bearing his likeness but the victim’s name. Ballard used falsely issued credit cards (and credit cards that he made) with his corresponding phony driver’s licenses. The scheme involved more than 50 victims and hundreds of credit cards and financial institution account numbers.

            On June 21, 2011, Ballard was arrested on Interstate 5 in Lathrop as he was driving a BMW that he had rented using one of his false identities. At the time of his arrest, he possessed sophisticated document-making items, a proprietary financial institution scanner and magnetic card programmer, high quality printers, and high quality paper (identification card) materials.

####

 

Return to Top