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Press Release

Montgomery County Man Pleads Guilty to Scheme to Open Credit Card Accounts at Retail and Telecommunications Stores Using the Stolen Personal Information of Hundreds of Victims

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Maryland
Defrauded Victims of at Least $150,000

Greenbelt, Maryland – Abdel Ndiaye, a/k/a “Pac,” age 32, of Boyds, Maryland, pleaded guilty to the federal charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, in connection with a scheme in which Ndiaye and his co-conspirators opened credit card accounts at numerous retail and telecommunications stores in order to obtain money and property.  The guilty plea was entered on April 7, 2021. 

The guilty plea was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge Matthew S. Miller of the United States Secret Service - Washington Field Office; Postal Inspector in Charge Peter R. Rendina of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service - Washington Division; and Chief Marcus Jones of the Montgomery County Police Department.

According to his guilty plea, from October 2015 to April 2018, Ndiaye conspired with Jonathan Henry, Dominique Davis, and others to obtain real individuals’ personally identifying information (PII), without the victims’ knowledge or permission.  Ndiaye not only knew that the personal information belonged to real people, but he also used a minor’s identity to lease his Maryland apartment. 

As detailed in the plea agreement, Ndiaye then provided the victims’ PII to other conspirators and Ndiaye and other conspirators used the stolen PII to create fraudulent driver’s licenses.  As part of the conspiracy, co-conspirators used the victims’ personal information and fraudulent driver’s licenses to apply for instant credit at various retailors and telecommunications stores in the names of the victims to purchase merchandise and electronics.  To evade detection by law enforcement, co-conspirators traveled to stores located in different states including Maryland, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. 

On April 19, 2018, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Ndiaye’s Maryland apartment.  Officers located a 75’’ Samsung television and Bose Soundtouch 300 soundbar.  On March 7, 2019, Ndiaye used the same minor’s identifying information to open credit accounts and purchased the soundbar and television for $3,750.  Law enforcement also recovered the PII of approximately 659 victims located within a folder in Ndiaye’s bedroom dresser drawer, a total of $17,231 in cash which were proceeds or derived from proceeds of the scheme.  Also found in the apartment were shredded driver’s licenses, a shredding machine, and blank card stock used to create fraudulent identification cards and credit cards, as well as a credit card encoder which Ndiaye used to create fraudulent credit cards.  Officers located 10 telecommunication statements with the same account number but difference customer names and addresses.        

Officers also recovered several items Ndiaye had thrown out of the apartment window prior to law enforcement’s entry including Ndiaye’s laptop, driver’s license holograms from nine different states, as well as 14 fraudulent Maryland driver’s licenses.

During the investigation, law enforcement selected 145 potential victims out of the total 659 victim PII recovered from Ndiaye’s apartment and sent the victim information to the card issuers and telecommunications stores.  From three credit card issuers or telecommunications stores, Ndiaye and his co-conspirators opened over 60 fraudulent accounts and caused a loss of over $142,000 to the three retail institutions. 

Ndiaye admitted that he and his co-conspirators used the stolen personal information of at least 62 victims to open fraudulent accounts, causing a total loss to the card issuers and telecommunication stores at least $150,597.06.  As part of his plea agreement, Ndiaye has agreed to the entry of a restitution order for the full amount of the victims’ losses.Ndiaye faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison, consecutive to any other sentence imposed, for aggravated identity theft.  U.S. District Judge Paul W. Grimm has not yet scheduled Ndiaye’s sentencing date.

Jonathan Henry, age 29, of Bethesda, Maryland, and Dominique Davis, age 30, of Germantown, Maryland, previously pleaded guilty to their roles in the scheme and were sentenced to 41 months and 30 months in federal prison, respectively.

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the United States Secret Service, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Montgomery County Police Department for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kelly O. Hayes and Dana J. Brusca, who are prosecuting the case.

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Contact

Marcia Murphy
(410) 209-4854

Updated April 9, 2021

Topics
Financial Fraud
Identity Theft