Matthew Gene Ballard, 32, of Manteca, has pleaded guilty to mail fraud, bank fraud, credit card fraud, and aggravated identity theft in federal court in Sacramento, according to U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner.
http://liarcatchers.com/fraud_investigation.html
According to the plea agreement, for more than six months this year, Mr. Ballard schemed to steal money from banks and merchants in the Central Valley and elsewhere.
He first used a victim’s identity to open a UPS Store mailbox in Modesto and then had fraudulently issued credit cards and other financial and identity information mailed to himself, court records show. Mr. Ballard used victims’ identification information to make counterfeit driver’s licenses bearing his likeness but the victim’s name. He also used falsely issued credit cards (and credit cards that he made) with his corresponding phony driver’s licenses.
The scheme involved more than 50 victims and hundreds of credit cards and financial institution account numbers.
In June Mr. Ballard was arrested on Interstate 5 in Lathrop as he was driving a BMW that he had rented using one of his false identities. At the time of his arrest, he possessed sophisticated document-making items, a proprietary financial institution scanner and magnetic card programmer, high quality printers, and high quality paper (identification card) materials.
When sentenced in January, he faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison for bank fraud, 20 years in prison for mail fraud, and 10 years in prison for credit card fraud. Mr. Ballard is additionally facing a minimum mandatory two years consecutive in prison for his aggravated identity theft offense.
