On December 14, United States Attorney Michael L. Levy announced the filing of a two-count information (pdf) charging Cursheena Patterson, age 24, of Philadelphia, with one count of conspiracy to commit unauthorized access fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. According to the information, from October through December, 2008, Patterson allegedly obtained the names, addresses, social security numbers and dates of birth of more than fifteen individuals through her employment, and provided that information to another person who used the identities of those individuals to open up accounts at Home Depot, Lowes and Best Buy. Also according to the
information, these fraudulently opened accounts were used to purchase more than $50,000 worth of merchandise. If convicted, Patterson faces a maximum sentence of 7 years in prison, including a mandatory two year prison term, a $500,000 fine and three years supervised release.
Patterson’s employer was not named in the information.
Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Hat-tip, The Reporter.