Member of “Traveling Group” of Fraudsters Sentenced

BOISE — Brandt Stewart, 29, from Southfield, Michigan, was sentenced today to 32 months in prison for aggravated identity theft and credit card fraud, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced.  U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill also ordered Stewart to serve three years of supervised release following his release from prison.

Stewart, co-defendant Myron Pardon, and others were part of a “traveling group” from Detroit, Michigan, that traveled to southern Idaho in December 2013, and February 2014, to make purchases at large “box stores” using counterfeit credit cards.  Stewart, knowingly and with intent to defraud, used counterfeit credit cards to purchase “general use” charge cards at ten stores in Twin Falls, Boise and Meridian, causing losses in the amount of $8,906 in joint and several liability with co-defendant Myron Pardon.  Some of the credit cards fraudulently used by Stewart belonged to actual account holders, thus constituting aggravated identity theft.

Stewart’s co-defendant Myron Pardon entered a plea of guilty and was sentenced on similar charges to 18 months incarceration on February 3, 2015, before Judge Winmill at the federal courthouse in Boise, Idaho.  The case of Stewart’s co-defendant, Matthew Lane, has been transferred to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, in Detroit, where Lane has pleaded guilty and will be sentenced on May 19, 2015.

"Vigorous prosecution of those who travel here to carry out schemes to defraud Idaho citizens and businesses is a priority of this United States Attorney’s Office,” said Olson.  “My office will work effectively and aggressively with local police departments and federal law enforcement agencies to put a quick end to these schemes.”