San Francisco Man Sentenced to 100 Months Imprisonment in Credit Card Fraud and Identity Theft Case

SAN FRANCISCO – Marcus Dieter Felder was sentenced to 100 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution to numerous victims following his convictions for access device fraud, aggravated identity theft, and other offenses, announced United States Attorney David L. Anderson, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent in Charge Tatum King, and U.S. Secret Service Acting Special Agent in Charge Shawn M. Bradstreet. The sentence was handed down by the Honorable Maxine M. Chesney, U.S. District Judge. 

Felder, 54, of San Francisco, was convicted of access device fraud and aggravated identity theft in February 2018, after a six-day jury trial.  The jury found that Felder had engaged in numerous instances of credit card fraud in San Francisco, Hawaii, Placer County in Calif., and elsewhere in April 2013, June 2014, and October 2014.  In addition, the jury found that Felder committed aggravated identity theft.  Specifically, the jury concluded that while Felder committed credit card fraud in June 2014, he illegally used personal information associated with another individual who shared his first and last names. 

Evidence at trial showed that Felder used Visa, MasterCard, and American Express credit cards issued to other persons to engage in transactions at high-end or boutique hotels, including the Fairmont Hotel, the Hotel Nikko, the Hilton Union Square, the Grand Hyatt, and the Hotel Metropolis, all in San Francisco, and the Four Seasons Resort in Maui.  The evidence at trial also showed that, among other transactions, the defendant used credit cards issued to other persons to pay for first-class air travel from San Francisco to Maui on United Airlines and to rent SUVs from Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Hertz.  Felder originally came into federal custody shortly after he was arrested at the Thunder Valley Casino Resort in Placer County on October 30, 2014, for presenting a counterfeit credit card there.

On September 19, 2017, a federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment charging Felder with one count of fraudulent use of unauthorized access devices, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1029(a)(2); two counts of effecting transactions with access devices issued to other persons, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1029(a)(5); and one count of aggravated identity theft, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1028A(a)(1).  Felder was released on bond in October 2017, but failed to appear for his sentencing hearing in April 2019.  He was then charged in a new indictment with one count of failure to appear for sentencing, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 3146(a)(1), and one count of contempt of court, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 401(3).  Felder was apprehended in October 2019, and later pleaded guilty to the failure to appear and contempt charges on June 24, 2020.

The 100-month prison sentence was comprised of 66 months imprisonment related to the access device fraud convictions, a consecutive sentence of 10 months for the failure to appear and contempt convictions, and a 24-month sentence for the aggravated identity theft conviction.  In addition to the prison term, Judge Chesney sentenced the defendant to a three-year period of supervised release and ordered him to pay more than $60,000 in restitution.  The defendant is in custody and will begin serving his prison sentence immediately.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kyle F. Waldinger, Katherine M. Lloyd-Lovett, Noah Stern, and Molly Smolen prosecuted the two cases with the assistance of Kathy Tat.  The prosecution is the result of an investigation by HSI and the U.S. Secret Service.