Aaron John Cashatt Sentenced To 50 Months In Prison For Credit Card Fraud Scheme

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – On Feb. 3, 2015, Aaron John Cashatt, 35, of Phoenix, Ariz. was sentenced by the Honorable Leon Jordan, Senior U.S. District Judge, to serve 50 months in prison for his role in a credit card fraud scheme. Upon his release from prison, Cashatt will be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for a term of three years. Additionally, he was ordered to forfeit his interest in a laundry list of items which he used to perpetrate the scheme and purchased through the scheme, including computer equipment, cellular telephones, laminating equipment for fake identification cards, credit card readers, and a credit card encoder.

Cashatt pleaded guilty in October 2014 to a federal grand jury indictment charging him with conspiracy, access device fraud, and aggravated identity theft. The indictment and plea agreement on file with the U.S. District Court detailed the scheme in which Cashatt would use stolen credit card information with a credit card encoder to re-encode credit cards with the stolen information. He and his co-conspirators would then use a credit card reader and smart phone to “dump” funds from the stolen accounts into a bank account controlled by Cashatt. He purchased some of the stolen credit card account information and obtained some of the credit card account information by breaking into hotel rooms in the Phoenix area.

U.S. Attorney Bill Killian said, “The local and federal law enforcement agencies are to be congratulated for their detection, investigation and successful prosecution of this individual. The devastating economic consequences from identity theft affect many people. Our office, working with law enforcement, will continue our aggressive efforts to uncover these crimes and prosecute the individuals responsible.”

The indictment and subsequent conviction of Cashatt was the result of an investigation conducted by the U.S. Secret Service, with assistance from the Knoxville Police Department and U.S. Marshals Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew T. Morris represented the United States.