November 4, 08

NEWS / GRANITE CITY MAN SENTENCED FOR IDENTITY THEFT AND RELATED CHARGES

A. Courtney Cox, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced today that on October 30, 2008, JASON DAVID LINGO, age 29, of Granite City, Illinois, was sentenced to serve an 84 month term of imprisonment following his convictions for Possession of Unauthorized Access Devices, Mail Fraud, and Aggravated Identity Theft. Under federal law, parole has been abolished meaning that LINGO will be required to serve at least 85% of his sentence. Following release from imprisonment, LINGO will be on supervised release for three years. He was also ordered to pay $3,612.31 in restitution.

LINGO pleaded guilty to the charges on April 11, 2008. The offenses occurred in Madison County, and elsewhere, during the time period of November, 2006 through December, 2006. The investigation began based on a citizen’s complaint after LINGO was observed using a public computer terminal to order merchandise over the internet in a manner which was suspicious to the observer.

Subsequent investigation revealed that LINGO would do Internet searches to find online fraud forums and web sites that discussed illegal methods for obtaining cash fast. LINGO would illegally purchase credit card information via e-mail and would use it to purchase electronics and other merchandise over the Internet, which LINGO would then sell or pawn.

LINGO purchased 131 credit card account numbers in October and November of 2007, with many having high lines of credit. The information purchased by LINGO included customer names, telephone numbers, email addresses, addresses, credit card numbers, card verification codes, and expiration dates. In some instances, the customer data profile also included a password.

According to FBI Special Agent in Charge Karen Spangenberg, “Identity theft has evolved into a serious and pervasive threat to consumers and the financial industry. Financial institutions lose billions of dollars each year to identity theft and consumers lose time and money while trying to undo the harm caused to their credit records. The FBI commends the work of the Collinsville Police Department, as well as all of the agencies who devote resources and contribute to the success of the Cyber Crimes Task Force.”

LINGO twice failed to appear for his sentencing hearing in Benton, Illinois. He was a fugitive from August 18, 2008 until last week.

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Metro East Cyber Crime Task Force, which includes members of the Collinsville Police Department who are deputized as Special Federal Officers. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Suzanne M. Garrison.

http://springfield.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/2008/si103108.htm