United States Attorney
Northern District of Texas

1100 Commerce St., 3rd Fl.
Dallas, Texas 75242-1699

Telephone (214) 659-8600
Fax (214) 767-0978

Three Dallas Women Sentenced in Credit Card Fraud Scam

Three Dallas women who pled guilty in April to their role in a credit card fraud scam were sentenced today in federal court in Dallas by United States Senior District Judge Barefoot Sanders, announced U.S. Attorney Richard B. Roper.

Linda Sue Whatley, 51, Angelique Iante Oliver, 25, and Kimberly Renee Bryant, 44, each pled guilty to one count of using an unauthorized access device. Whatley was sentenced to 24 months imprisonment and ordered to pay $214,689.06 in restitution; Oliver was sentenced to 17 months imprisonment and ordered to pay $261,110.43 in restitution; and Bryant was sentenced to three years probation and ordered to pay $22,541.24 in restitution. Whatley must surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on September 11, 2006 and Oliver must surrender on November 1, 2006.

As part of their scheme, Whatley and Oliver would review the Internet and telephone books to identify and select legitimate businesses in the Dallas area to target. Then Whatley, Oliver and Bryant would submit fraudulent applications for credit lines in the names of those businesses at several business supply companies in Dallas, such as Office Max and Staples. They used either fictitious names or one of their own names on the fraudulent credit line applications as the named individual with access to company credit line account numbers. They often listed their own telephone numbers and home addresses on some of the fraudulent credit line applications in order to help conceal the scheme and enable them to fraudulently verify information contained in the credit line applications. All three defendants used false identification documents and assumed false identities when they went to Office Max or Staples to fraudulently access these fraudulently established credit line account numbers.

From August 2003 through October 2005, Whatley, Oliver and Bryant repeatedly used approximately 83 fraudulently obtained credit line account numbers to purchase high value office supply and computer-related merchandise at both Office Max and Staples. Fraudulent purchases during this period totaled at least $263,000.00.

U.S. Attorney Roper praised the investigative efforts of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David Jarvis.

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