| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 12, 2009 WWW.USDOJ.GOV/USAO/CAN |
SAN FRANCISCO - A San Francisco man was sentenced today to 100 months in prison for his role in an identity theft operation, United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello announced.
Jason Vassil, 34, was sentenced today after pleading guilty on February 6 to one count of Wire Fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343, and one count of Possession of Document Making Equipment in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1029(a)(4).
Vassil, along with James Linville of San Francisco, were indicted by a federal grand jury on July 29, 2008. Linville pled guilty on Dec. 12, 2008 and was sentenced on April 27 to 45 months in prison.
According to the plea agreement, Vassil admitted to possessing document-making equipment with the intent to defraud, including a credit-card embosser used to make counterfeit credit cards, along with more than 1,000 counterfeit credit cards. As part of the plea, Vassil also agreed to forfeit eight computers, a barcode scanner, eight cell phones, a card reader and other electronics. Vassil admitted the forfeited property was used to facilitate the fraudulent conduct.
The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston. Judge Illston also sentenced Vassil to three years of supervised release following his prison sentence. The defendant will begin serving the prison sentence immediately.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Allison Danner and Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jeane Hamilton and David Ward, with the assistance of Rosario Calderon. The prosecution was the result of a nine-month investigation by the United States Secret Service.
Further Information:
Case #: 09-0505 SI
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