ST. LOUIS, MO Today, United States District Judge Rodney W. Sippel sentenced Nykeythia Hudson, a 28-year-old resident of Concord, California, to 24 months in prison after she pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated identity theft.
Hudson and her associate, both residents of California, traveled to Missouri to use counterfeit credit cards to fraudulently purchase gift cards and merchandise. Police stopped their rental car in St. Charles County on Jan. 28, 2017. When Hudson opened the glove compartment to provide the vehicles registration information, a plastic bag containing with 81 cards fell out.
To appear authentic, fourteen of the cards were embossed with an altered card verification value, CVV, numbers. The account numbers on the front of the cards had been issued by financial institutions other than those appearing on the cards, and to individuals other than the defendants.
Jan. 28, 2017 surveillance footage from a St. Charles County Wal-Mart captured Hudson using a counterfeit Walmart Visa Debit card to purchase a Wal-Mart gift card. The debit card was embossed with the USAA account number issued to A.V. and the name of a different person.
Neither A.V. nor USAA authorized the possession or use of her account number. Of the remaining cards that fell from the glove compartment, 20 were fraudulently purchased Walmart Visa gift cards and 47 were fraudulently purchased TJ Maxx-Home Goods gift cards. In the vehicle, police also found receipts showing the purchase of additional gift cards from Wal-Mart and TJ Maxx using other the stolen USAA account numbers.
The Secret Service investigated the case. Assistant United States Attorney Tracy Berry is handling the case.
-- U.S. Attorneys Office Eastern District of Missouri
Source: U.S. Secret Service