Eartha Ann Worthy, 29, of Broward County, Florida pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit access device fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft for her participation in an identity theft fraud scheme involving the personally identifiable information of magazine subscription customers.
According to court documents, law enforcement agents executed a search warrant at a residence and found the PII belonging to 36 individuals, including their names, addresses, credit card information, dates of birth or social security numbers, on order sheets (taken from a direct call telemarketing center) related to magazine subscriptions. The owner of the residence explained that Worthy was employed as a supervisor with a company that sells magazine subscriptions and that Worthy was the source of the PII. The telemarketing firm was not named in the press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Worthy admitted to providing information to the residence’s owner and stated that she knew that the information she was providing was being used for fraudulent purposes. Worthy stated that the residence’s owner used the stolen credit card information to pay bills and make small purchases. Worthy also provided PII to another individual, who was involved in a tax refund fraud scheme.
Sentencing is scheduled for June 11, 2015 at 9:30 a.m.
SOURCE: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Florida