A federal grand jury had indicated a Georgia man and a Maryland man on charges they possessed 15 or more counterfeited credit cards and equipment for making fraudulent credit or bank-debit cards, United States Attorney Joyce White Vance announced.
Sinzinkayo Haji Sinzinkayo, 38, of Jonesboro, Ga., and Damilola Odegbile, also known as “Tony Allen,” 22, of Bowie, Md., each also face three charges of wire fraud and one count each of aggravated identity theft for using fraudulently encoded credit or bank-debit cards to buy gift cards worth several hundred dollars from drugstores in Homewood and Trussville.
According to the indictment, the two men traveled from Georgia in early August and rented a hotel room in Jefferson County in order to create and use the counterfeited electronic cards to steal money and property from individuals and card-issuing companies.
Today’s indictment replaces a two-count August indictment.
“An alert store clerk who noticed something unusual and called police, and a patrol officer who was very diligent led to arrests in this case,” said Homewood Police Lt. Chuck Moore. “We are members of the Postal Service’s Identity Theft Task Force. We called them, and postal inspectors and the Secret Service were here immediately,” Moore said. “It was just a very cooperative effort between the CVS employees, the Homewood Police, postal inspectors and the Secret Service,” he said.
If convicted, each man faces a maximum sentence of 10 years’ incarceration and a fine of $250,000 for possessing fifteen or more “unauthorized access devices.” Each also faces a maximum of 15 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for possessing device-making equipment. Each also faces a maximum 30-year sentence and a $1 million fine for each count of wire fraud, and a mandatory prison term of two years for each count of aggravated identity theft.