FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
STEVEN RICHARD SCOTT PLEADS GUILTY IN U.S. FEDERAL COURT
Bill Mercer, United States Attorney for the District of Montana, announced today that during a federal court session in Great Falls on January 22, 2008, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Keith Strong, STEVEN RICHARD SCOTT, a 28-year-old resident of Longview, Washington, pled guilty to credit card fraud and aggravated identity theft. Sentencing is set for April 17, 2008. He is currently detained.
In an Offer of Proof filed by the United States, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:
In August of 2007, an investigation began into fraudulently obtained credit cards being issued using the identity of A.M.S. and C.S. by SCOTT and his wife, Anna Scott.
In 2005 in Longview, Washington, SCOTT and his wife began defrauding local businesses by manufacturing fraudulent payroll checks to receive payday loans for local lending establishments.
In 2005, SCOTT was employed as a car salesman at an automobile dealership in Longview, Washington. SCOTT was able to observe passwords on the wall of the finance office for "700 Credit." The passwords allow a merchant or vendor to run an instant credit history check on a person seeking to purchase merchandise, such as a car, with credit. At first, SCOTT used the passwords to check his own credit, his wife's credit, and his parents' credit history.
At some time thereafter, SCOTT identified two individuals, C.S. and A.M.S., that had purchased automobiles from the dealership and that were near the same age and had the same last name as he and his wife. The Scotts then began obtaining credit cards using the personal information (including Social Security numbers) of A.M.S. and C.S. The credit cards were issued by Herbergers, Wal-Mart, Sears, CARE, American Express, Image, Dell, GE Capitol Racing, Home Depot, Lowes, Summit Racing, Sprint, AT&T, Comcast and DIRECTV. All or most of the credit cards completely exhausted the credit available on the fraudulent account.
In July 2007, Anna Scott purchased a 2007 Dodge Charger from Lithia Dodge in Great Falls using the credit history of A.M.S. No payments were made on the vehicle and it was later repossessed and sold to ameliorate the debt.
C.S. reviewed his credit report and determined that credit accounts through CARE, Home Depot, Lowe's, Wal-Mart, Summit Racing, Spring, AT&T, Comcast and DIRECTV had been fraudulently obtained using his personal identity in 2005 and 2006, for a total of $17,745.65.
A.M.S. reviewed her credit report and determined that credit accounts through CARE, Chrysler Financial, Dell, Wal-Mart, Sears, Herbergers and American Express had been fraudulently obtained using her personal identity during 2005, 2006 and 2007, for a total of $61,337.21.
Anna Scott pled guilty to federal charges and is awaiting sentencing.
SCOTT faces possible penalties of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and 3 years supervised release. In addition, SCOTT faces an additional mandatory two year imprisonment, consecutive to any other sentence, for aggravated identity theft.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Carl E. Rostad prosecuted the case for the United States.
The investigation was a cooperative effort between the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Great Falls Police Department.
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A copy of the Offer of Proof can be obtained by contacting Sally Frank at (406) 247-4638.
