FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Docket #: 2:12-CR-00248 JAM

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Michael Stephen Moynihan, 28, of Sacramento, was sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez to three years and five months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, for fraud involving ID theft, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.

This case is the product of an investigation by the United States Secret Service, the El Paso County (Colorado) Sheriff’s Department, and the Placer County Sheriff’s Department. Assistant United States Attorney Kyle Reardon prosecuted the case.

According to court documents, between March 2011 and May 2012, Moynihan acquired personal information about individuals and used it to get authorization codes from Green Dot MoneyPak cards and other access devices. He transferred money from the victims’ Green Dot cards to his own accounts for his personal use. Moynihan acquired between $30,000 and $70,000 from up to 50 different victims throughout the United States, including Colorado, Mississippi, Texas, Illinois, Florida, Washington, Kansas, California, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Arizona, Maine, and Indiana.

According to court documents, on May 23, 2011, Moynihan contacted a Placer County detective that was investigating the fraud and told the detective to back off or he would make him “look bad.” Moynihan threatened that if the detective did not stop his investigation, Moynihan would spoof the detective’s phone to make it look like he was attempting to engage in fraud, he would call the detective’s boss and complain that the detective was threatening him, or he would kill the detective and his family. He said that he could find the detective in 15 minutes and come to his house and kill him. He concluded by saying that the detective was a “dead man.”

In sentencing Moynihan, Judge Mendez said that because of the defendant’s long criminal history, he did not believe that there was “anything redeemable” about him. Judge Mendez went on to say that he “seemed incredibly dangerous,” and that his crime of picking on people who were “incredibly vulnerable,” warranted a severe sanction.

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