Aug. 29 , 2006

 

KANSAS CITY MAN SENTENCED TO 2 YEARS
IN IDENTITY THEFT CASE

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – A Kansas City man will spend 2 years in federal prison for using stolen identities to go on a shopping spree at stores including Banana Republic, Home Depot, Circuit City and Nebraska Furniture Mart.

Shawn Lee, 30, Kansas City, Mo., was sentenced Monday during a hearing before U.S. District Judge John W. Lungstrum.

“In addition to the prison sentence, Mr. Lee also will be required to pay $78,091 in restitution,” said U.S. Attorney Eric Melgren.

Lee pleaded guilty in April to one count of conspiracy to commit identity theft. In his plea, he acknowledged that investigators from the U.S. Postal Service and other agencies executed a search warrant March 27, 2002, at a residence at 1408 N. 11th Street in Kansas City, Kan. They recovered names of individuals whose identities were stolen, stolen Social Security numbers, paper stock for printing fraudulent identification materials, folders containing information on victims of identity theft, blank credit applications and a laminator.
Lee admitted making purchases in the names of five individuals totaling $78,091.75. He did so by obtaining credit in the name of the identity theft victims and using the credit to make purchases.

Lee was charged along with co-conspirators Shad Fish, Chris Branham, Arturo Romero and Starr Moore. Romero was sentenced in September to 3 years probation and ordered to pay more than $6,000 in restitution. Moore was sentenced in October to 5 years probation and ordered to pay more than $16,000 in restitution. Branham was sentenced in September to 4 months in federal prison and ordered to pay more than $18,000 in restitution. Fish was sentenced in October to 57 months in prison and ordered to pay more than $167,000 in restitution.

Melgren commended the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the police departments of Leawood; Kansas City, Kan.; Overland Park; Topeka; Lawrence; Lenexa; Kansas City, Mo.; Independence, Mo.; Lee’s Summit, Mo.; and Omaha, Neb., which investigated the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Rask, who prosecuted the case.

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