Two Individuals Sentenced In International Scheme To Obtain Over 800 Cell Phones

HARRISBURG—The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that Nana Mensah, age 37, of Delaware, was sentenced to 99 months’ imprisonment to be followed by three years of supervised release by U.S. District Court Judge Jennifer P. Wilson following Mensah’s conviction on 15 counts of mail fraud, four counts of aggravated identity theft, one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft. Judge Wilson also ordered Mensah to pay restitution to Sprint, Inc. in the amount of $357,565.92. 

Judge Wilson also sentenced co-defendant Shaderick Jojo Opare, age 32, of Reading, Pennsylvania, to three days’ imprisonment to be followed by three years of supervised release for conspiracy to commit mail fraud.  Opare was also ordered to pay restitution to Sprint, Inc. in the amount of $185,272.  

According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, Mensah and Opare were involved in an international scheme in which co-conspirators, often located in Ghana, would steal victims’ identity in order to open Sprint cell phone accounts.  As part of opening the new accounts, the co-conspirators would order new cell phones and have them delivered to vacant homes where they would be picked up by other co-conspirators and eventually resold. The conspiracy involved more than 270 packages containing over 830 cell phones that were valued at over $595,000.  The conspiracy took advantage of over 240 identity theft victims. 

Mensah and Opare’s codefendants were initially indicted in November of 2017, with the following codefendants: 

• Patrick Barkers-Woode was sentenced on July 13, 2022, to 111 months’ imprisonment and ordered to pay $357,565.92 in restitution following his conviction of 15 counts of mail fraud, four counts of aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to commit mail fraud and identity theft;   

• Jason Moskovitz was sentenced on July 13, 2022, to 39 months’ imprisonment and ordered to pay $201,574 in restitution following pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and aggravated identity theft;

• Mody Kalle was sentenced on March 4, 2020, to two years’ imprisonment and ordered to pay $201,574 in restitution following pleading guilty to aggravated identity theft; and

• Sean Murphy was sentenced on August 27, 2020, to two years’ probation and ordered to pay $79,944 in restitution following pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud.    

The investigation was handled by Homeland Security Investigation, the Pennsylvania State Police, the Delaware State Police, and the Derry Township Police Department.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Scott R. Ford and Christian T. Haugsby prosecuted the case. 

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