Chesterfield Man Sentenced for Identity Theft and Fraud

St. Louis, MO – William Davidson was sentenced to 15 months in prison for his use of unauthorized access devices.  Davidson appeared before Judge Ronnie L. White and is scheduled to have a supervised release revocation hearing before Judge Catherine D. Perry on November 19, 2018 on an unrelated matter.  Davidson remains in federal custody pending the hearing.

According to court documents, Davidson obtained employment with a retail establishment in August 2017 while completing a sentence with the Federal Bureau of Prisons.  He maintained that employment upon his release from the Bureau of Prisons to the supervision of the United States Probation Office in August 2017. 

During a review of store surveillance tapes in December 2017, fraud investigators realized that Davidson was fraudulently obtaining store gift cards by pretending to conduct merchandise returns for non-existent customers.  He used a fictitious employee number as well as the employee number of a co-worker in order to initiate the fraudulent returns.  The majority of the returns were obtained between August 16^th and September 28^th, 2017. 

Davidson admitted that he used the fraudulent obtained gift cards to purchase items for friends and family members in the St. Louis Metropolitan area and in other states.  The total intended loss is approximately $6,500.

Davidson, 63, of Chesterfield, pleaded guilty on August 2, 2018 to one count of access device fraud.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service and the City of Des Peres Police Department.  Assistant United States Attorney Tracy Berry is handling the case for the U.S. Attorney's Office.