Reno, Nev. – A California man has been sentenced to six years in federal prison for stealing persons' identities and using fraudulent credit cards to purchase thousands of dollars of merchandise, announced Greg Brower, United States Attorney for the District of Nevada.

Cyril Egu, 52, of Dublin, California, was sentenced on June 9, 2009, by U.S. District Judge Larry R. Hicks to 72 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $11,309 in restitution. Egu was convicted by a Reno jury on February 12, 2009, of two counts of Aggravated Identity Theft and two counts of Access Device Fraud.

"Identity theft is a serious and growing problem in our community," said U.S. Attorney Brower. "Citizens should know that the U.S. Attorney's Office will aggressively prosecute such criminals."

According to the court records, on August 1 and November 14, 2006, Egu fraudulently established two Mastercard accounts using the dates of birth and social security numbers for two individuals, and used credit cards assigned to those accounts for the purchase of four Apple laptop computers. Egu had the fraudulently-purchased computers sent to vacant residences. After a notice of attempted delivery was left at the vacant residence, Egu pursued the deliverer, and presented a notice and claimed the merchandise. Egu also purchased items such as furniture and cell phone service with the fraudulently obtained credit cards. It is estimated that he made thousands of dollars of retail purchases and cash advances on the fraudulent credit accounts.

Under federal law, any person convicted of aggravated identity theft must be sentenced to two years imprisonment consecutive to any other sentence imposed.

The case was investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys William R. Reed and Sue Fahami.

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