Sacramento man used stolen credit cards to buy nearly $1 million worth of gift cards
A federal judge last week sentenced a Sacramento man convicted of fraud for using stolen credit cards to buy nearly $1 million worth of gift cards.
U.S. District Judge Dale Drozd on Wednesday sentenced Steven Raymon Waller, 46, to serve three years and three months in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento announced in a news release.
Federal prosecutors said the judge ordered Waller to pay $927,000 in restitution to the national retail business where the gift cards were purchased. The judge also ordered Waller to serve three years of parole after his release from prison.
On July 9, Waller pleaded guilty to one count of access device fraud, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court Eastern District of California. His conviction was the result of a plea agreement with prosecutors, who dropped four other counts of access device fraud against Waller.
The case was the result of a FBI investigation, which began after May 14, 2018, at a store in Sacramento County, filed court documents show. At that store, Waller used a stolen credit card to buy $5,000 worth of gift cards.
In a factual basis for the plea agreement, prosecutors said the May 2018 purchase wasn’t the only time Waller used a stolen credit card to buy gift cards at this store.
From November 2017 through March 2019, Waller used credit cards stolen from more than 10 people to buy a total of $927,000 in gift cards from the retail business from two store locations, court documents show.
The gift cards were illicitly bought at three store locations; in Sacramento, Antelope and Rancho Cordova. The stores were identified as “Store 1,” “Store 2” and “Store 3” in a filed federal grand jury indictment against Waller.
This story was originally published December 23, 2024 at 3:19 PM.
