Washington State Man Sentenced on Fraud Charges

St. Louis, MO – Haben Sebhatu, Seattle, Washington, was sentenced to 63 months in federal prison for participating in two stolen identity credit card fraud rings that were disrupted in St. Louis.

Sebhatu’s conduct included credit card fraud activities in Missouri, Washington, Indiana and Arkansas.  Sebhatu was arrested by the Ladue Police Department after a traffic stop on March 25, 2016, which revealed numerous counterfeit credit cards and a card encoding machine in his vehicle.

Sebhatu pled guilty in July to one felony count of credit card fraud, one count of possessing device making equipment and nine counts of aggravated identity theft. He appeared today for sentencing before Judge Audrey G. Fleissig.      

The case was investigated by the Ladue (Missouri) Police Department, the U.S. Secret Service and the Pierce County (Washington) Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.  Assistant United States Attorney Tom Albus handled the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.