SHEREE M. CARSEN, 32, of Everett, Washington, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to 33 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and $7,500 in restitution for Access Device Fraud and Aggravated Identity Theft. CARSEN and another defendant took personally identifying information from the trash cans at Kinko’s Copy Centers, and at other locations, in order to open credit accounts and fraudulently run up charges. U.S. District Judge Ronald B. Leighton imposed the mandatory 24 month sentence for Aggravated Identity Theft on top of a nine month sentence for Access Device Fraud.

According to records filed in the case, between August 23, 2006 and September 18, 2006, CARSEN and her cohort traveled up and down I-5 between Vancouver and Everett using credit accounts obtained by stealing the identity of a student at an Eastern Washington college. The identifying information had been taken from the trash at a Kinko’s Copy Center in Western Washington. The two were originally arrested September 17, 2006 in Clark County, Washington. CARSEN was released on bond pending trial on charges in Clark County. On January 4, 2007 CARSEN was arrested by Everett Police. The arresting officers located numerous fake identification documents, receipts, and fraudulently obtained credit cards in CARSEN’s purse. CARSEN has been held on the federal indictment since that arrest.

The case was investigated by the Vancouver Police Department, Bellevue Police Department and United States Secret Service as part of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Working Group on Identity Theft. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Arlen Storm.

For additional information please contact Emily Langlie, Public Affairs Officer for the United States Attorney’s Office, at (206) 553-4110.

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