Madison Illinois Man Sentenced For Conspiracy, Wire Fraud And Aggravated Identity Theft In Multi-State Auto Theft Scheme

A Madison, Illinois, man convicted of Conspiracy to Possess and Pass Counterfeit Securities, Wire Fraud and Aggravated Identity Theft, was sentenced on June 21, 2013, to 70 months on Counts 1 and 2 with a consecutive 24 months on Count 3 for a total of 94 months, and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $87,889.96, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced today.

Gordon D. Caldwell, 46, pled guilty to the charges on March 15, 2013. During his plea, Caldwell admitted that from April of 2011 to August of 2012 he had conspired with others to use counterfeit cashier’s checks of financial institutions to defraud individuals in both Illinois and Missouri who had listed their vehicles for sale in various media sources. Caldwell admitted that he would go to the seller’s home or other location where a vehicle was held for sale, and while using false identification, he would give a counterfeit cashier’s check to the seller. Caldwell also admitted that on two occasions, he used the fraudulently obtained vehicle titles to take out vehicle loans.

The investigation was conducted by the Metro East Auto Theft Task Force with the assistance of the Madison County Sheriff’s Office; the Granite City, Madison, Glen Carbon, Maryville, Effingham, Decatur and South Roxana Police Departments in Illinois; the Jefferson, and Boone County Sheriff’s Offices; the St. Charles County Sheriff’s Department and the St. Peters, St. Louis County and Arnold Police Departments in Missouri. Assistance was also given by the prosecutors’ offices in Madison, Macon, Effingham and Morgan Counties in Illinois and Jefferson, St. Charles, St. Louis, and Boone Counties in Missouri. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ranley R. Killian.