Identity Thief Goes to Federal Prison

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Paul Michael Dye, 49, of Corpus Christi, has been sentenced to federal prison for identity theft, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson. Dye pleaded guilty Oct. 29, 2015.

Today, U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos ordered Dye to serve 30 months for possessing five or more identification documents with the intent to defraud as well as another 24 months for the identity theft which must be served consecutively. The court also revoked his supervised release he was serving for a prior securities fraud conviction resulting in another 21 months in prison, six months of which will be served consecutively to his new sentence. The total five-year sentence will be followed by three years of additional supervised release. Dye was further ordered to pay full restitution to his victims.

Dye was arrested March 16, 2015. At that time, he was in possession of numerous identity documents in the names of others including three Texas driver’s licenses, three Texas ID cards, one Florida ID, five Social Security cards, two Medicare health insurance cards, seven credit cards and a variety of other student IDs, heath plan IDs and work IDs. Dye also had an assortment of stolen, counterfeit and forged checks. The documents found in Dye’s possession included a fraudulent Texas driver’s license bearing Dye’s photograph but the name and identifying information of another individual. 

Agents discovered that between March 8, 2015, and March 11, 2015, 22 counterfeit checks in the name appearing on Dye’s fraudulent driver’s license totaling $5,818.58 were passed at retailers in Corpus Christi and Portland. The routing number and account number on all of these checks actually belonged to an individual whose stolen identifying information was found in Dye’s possession.

An examination of a notebook found in Dye’s vehicle revealed pages of identifying information including names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, driver’s license issue and expiration dates, bank account routing and account numbers and other information for dozens of individuals. Through the course of the investigation, agents discovered that a number of the driver’s licenses and ID cards had been used to pass or cash counterfeit and forged checks in the Corpus Christi area and Dye had additional fraudulent checks ready to be passed in his possession.

Dye was also found to be on federal supervised release as the result of a prior conviction for making, possessing and uttering counterfeited securities.  

He has been and will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future. 

The charges are the result of an investigation conducted by the Corpus Christi Police Department and the U.S. Secret Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert D. Thorpe Jr. is prosecuting the case.