Maryland Man Convicted for Role in Credit-Card Skimming Ring With More Than 780 Victims
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Olubunmi Oladapo Komolafe, 33, of Laurel, Md., has been convicted by a federal jury for his role in an identity theft and credit card skimming ring that involved more than 780 victims.
Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; David E. Beach, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service’s Washington Field Office; M. Douglas Scott, Chief of Police, Arlington County Police Department; and J. Thomas Manger, Chief of Police, Montgomery County Department of Police, made the announcement.
Convicted on Dec. 13, 2011, after a two-day trial, Komolafe faces a maximum penalty of seven and a half years in prison on the conspiracy charge, followed by a mandatory minimum of two years in prison on the aggravated identity theft charge when he is sentenced on March 9, 2012.
According to court records and evidence at trial, Komolafe and co-conspirators led an identity theft ring that stole credit card numbers from restaurant customers in the Washington, D.C., metro area. Komolafe and his co-conspirators recruited, trained, and paid restaurant servers to swipe customers’ credit cards through a skimmer that would record customer credit card numbers. The men used the stolen credit card numbers to re-encode credit cards and gift cards to purchase gift cards and designer merchandise, and sometimes returned this merchandise for cash. From at least January 2010 to June 2011, Komolafe and others facilitated thousands of fraudulent transactions from stolen credit card numbers throughout Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.
Four individuals have pleaded guilty for their roles in the identity theft and credit card skimming ring, including: William Samuel Martin, Usman Muhammed, Anthony Danero Thomas, and Raoul Lycorish from Maryland.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service’s Washington Field Office, Arlington County Police Department, and the Montgomery County Department of Police. Assistant United States Attorney Jasmine H. Yoon and Special Assistant United States Attorney Andrew K. Mann are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov or on https://pcl.uscourts.gov.
