Robert C. Flowers, 31, of Katy, Texas, has been sentenced by United States District Judge Nancy Atlas to serve more than five years in the federal penitentiary without parole for aggravated identity theft and credit card fraud, United States Attorney José Angel Moreno announced today.
Judge Atlas sentenced Flowers to a total of 61 months in prison yesterday afternoon – 37 months for the possession of fraudulent credit cards convictions to be followed by a mandatory 24-month prison term for the aggravated identity theft conviction stemming from the unauthorized use of an identification to open a bank account. In addition to the prison terms, Flowers was ordered to serve three years of supervised release after prison and to pay restitution in the amount of $3,505.95 to American Express. Flowers was convicted of the federal felony offenses after pleading guilty in February 2010.
According to court documents and testimony, in November 2008, while deputies from the Harris County Sheriff’s Department were engaged in executing state warrants for the arrest of Flowers at his residence on the 2600 block of Knoll Shadows Lane in Katy, the deputies found evidence of access device (credit card) fraud including white plastic card stock, fraudulent credit/debit and gift cards, a laptop computer, a magnetic stripe reader/writer, two credit card skimming devices as well as several genuine and counterfeit drivers’ licenses and ID cards bearing Flowers’ photograph. Flowers was arrested in November 2008 on the state charges and later transferred to federal custody in August 2009 to face these federal charges. He has remained in federal custody without bond since then.
Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Texas