Columbia, South Carolina ---- United States Attorney Bill Nettles stated today that Chernoh A. Jalloh, age 28, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was sentenced in federal court in Greenville, for conspiracy to defraud, a violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1029(b)(2). United States District Judge Bruce Howe Hendricks of Charleston sentenced Jalloh to 37 months in the Bureau of Prisons and ordered him to pay over $97,000 in restitution.
Evidence presented at the change of plea hearing established that on Aug. 24, 2015, Jalloh’s vehicle was stopped on Interstate 85 for a traffic infraction. Upon approaching the vehicle, law enforcement observed the smell of marijuana emanating from the vehicle and conducted a search.
During the search of the vehicle, officers located more than 90 credit and debit/gift cards secreted in various locations throughout the vehicle. Of these cards, at least twenty-three (23) were embossed with Jalloh’s name. In the vehicle, officers also discovered a laptop computer and a device capable of encoding the magnetic stripe data on credit, debit, and similar magnetic-striped cards.
All of the twenty-three (23) cards embossed with Jalloh’s name were found to be encoded with magnetic stripe data that did not match the number embossed on the cards.
The case was investigated by agents of the Department of Homeland Security, Office of Investigations, and the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney Bill Watkins of the Greenville office handled the case. ##
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
