A Miami-Dade County resident was sentenced to 39 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, for using the names and credit card numbers of other individuals to steal $14,610.
Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Kelly R. Jackson, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), and Steve Steinberg, Chief, Aventura Police Department, made the announcement.
Leo Philippe Altenor, 26, of Miami Dade-County, previously pled guilty to one count of using one or more unauthorized access devices, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1029(a)(2) and 2, and one count of aggravated identity theft, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1028A. As part of his plea agreement, Altenor agreed to pay restitution in the amount of $14,610.
According to court documents, this case is part of an investigation into recent fraudulent activity against a federally insured bank. Since June 2015, individuals have stolen over one million dollars from the bank’s accounts in the Southern District of Florida. To accomplish this, individuals use the personal identifying information of victims to take over their bank accounts, and use fraudulent means to obtain the credit cards that are linked to the accounts. The individuals involved in this scheme then utilize ATM machines to withdraw money from the victims' bank accounts using the credit card numbers.
From June to October 2015, Altenor was identified as fraudulently withdrawing over $14,610 from multiple victims’ bank accounts.
Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of IRS-CI and the Aventura Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brooke Watson.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
