A Bethesda man and a Germantown woman allegedly purchased more than $45,000 worth of merchandise with fake credit cards they set up using stolen personal information of 11 people.
Jonathan Henry, 26, of Bethesda and Dominique Davis, 27, of Germantown were indicted Thursday on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of Maryland.
Between October 2015 and this April, Henry and Davis allegedly stole personal information from at least five people in Montgomery County, three others in Maryland, one in Virginia and two from California, according to the federal indictment.
They then used the information for purchases at Best Buys, Verizon stores and other places in Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina, prosecutors claim in the indictment. In April 2016, Henry allegedly used the information of a Bethesda resident to open a Sam’s Club membership and store credit card in the victim’s name in Salisbury, and then used the credit card to spend $1,200, according to the indictment. In December 2017, they reportedly spent $3,813 at the Bethesda Apple store using a Barclay’s credit card in a Virginia resident’s name.
In some cases, they allegedly used the victim’s personal information to create fake driver’s licenses, and later used the fake licenses to apply for store credit cards and cell phone service accounts.
The indictment did not specify how Henry and Davis stole the personal information to forge the credit cards and licenses.
In total, Henry and Davis allegedly made $45,206.13 in fraudulent purchases of electronics and other merchandise.
Both face up to 20 years in prison for wire fraud. Henry faces an additional 11 counts of aggravated identity theft, each of which carries a mandatory consecutive sentence of two years.
