Washington Man Sentenced for Possession of Unauthorized Access Device

United States Attorney Randolph J. Seiler announced that a Mill Creek, Washington, man convicted of Unauthorized Access Device was sentenced on April 11, 2017, by Chief Judge Jeffrey L. Viken, U.S. District Court.

Mythyas Troy Godiava, a/k/a Daniel Nguyen, a/k/a Lourde Godiava, age 43, was sentenced to 42 months in custody, followed by 3 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.

Godiava pleaded guilty to the charge on December 9, 2016. The charge related to Godiava being stopped by the South Dakota Highway Patrol in Lawrence County on April 4, 2016. A search was conducted on the vehicle and a meth pipe, over 1,000 gift cards, multiple debit/credit cards, a stolen passport, and multiple forms of identification were found. An investigation revealed that for the last several years Godiava has been defrauding various businesses by employing different fraud techniques, such as price tag switching or leaving the store without paying for cartloads of items. Godiava would then hire homeless men and women to return the items for store credit placed on gift cards.

This case was investigated by the South Dakota Highway Patrol and the Department of Homeland Security, Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Megan Poppen prosecuted the case.

Godiava was immediately turned over to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.