Three Charged With Conspiracy To Commit Credit Card Fraud In Jackson Area

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — An indictment was unsealed today charging three women with conspiracy to commit access device fraud and access device fraud, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.

According to the indictment, in October 2013, Amanda Nicole Nicoletti, 28, of Clovis; Brittney Janet Booth, 27, of Fresno; and Bobbi Jo Heiss, 27, of Oakhurst, collected more than 165 credit card numbers, 25 California driver’s licenses, and 25 social security numbers in the names of other individuals. The defendants then used that information to make numerous purchases in the Jackson area of jewelry, shoes, cigarettes, and other items using counterfeit credit cards that had been encoded with the stolen credit card numbers. Co-defendant Nicoletti is additionally charged with aggravated identity theft.

This case is the product of an investigation by the United States Secret Service, United States Postal Inspection Service, Jackson Police Department, and Angels Camp Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Jared C. Dolan is prosecuting the case.

Heiss was arrested on April 11, 2014, and is expected to make her initial appearance in Fresno today. Nicoletti and Booth have not yet been apprehended.

If convicted, Nicoletti, Booth, and Heiss face a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for access device fraud and five years in prison for conspiracy to commit access device fraud. If convicted of aggravated identity theft, Nicoletti faces a mandatory-minimum two years in prison. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. The charges are only allegations; the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.