Wal-mart check cashing scheme nets man 8 year prison term www.privateofficer.com
Posted by privateofficernews on July 22, 2008
Wal-mart check cashing scheme nets man 8 year prison term www.privateofficer.com
Mobile AL. July 22 2008
A federal judge in Mobile this morning sentenced a couple who admitted to using homeless people to cash bogus checks at Wal-Mart after Wal-Mart as they traveled the country.
Law enforcement authorities said Scott Douglas Myers, a convicted sex offender from Ohio, and his fellow travelers stole nearly $100,000 from 119 Wal-Marts.
“This was no small-scale operation,” U.S. District Judge William Steele said. “It was, in fact, a large-scale operation.”
The judge placed most of the blame squarely on Myers, sentencing him to eight years in prison — almost three years longer than the maximum term suggested under advisory sentencing guidelines. Steele said the nature of the offense and Myers’ extensive criminal record called for a harsher punishment.
At a separate hearing, Steele sentenced Myers’ girlfriend, Crystal Bowers, to three years and a month.
Myers protested the prosecution’s contention that he was the mastermind and leader of the criminal ring, but Steele remained unmoved. According to testimony from two co-defendants, Bowers and Myers called themselves Bonnie and Clyde, after a pair of notorious robbers who traveled the country during the Great Depression.
A federal judge in Mobile this morning sentenced a couple who admitted to using homeless people to cash bogus checks at Wal-Mart after Wal-Mart as they traveled the country.
Law enforcement authorities said Scott Douglas Myers, a convicted sex offender from Ohio, and his fellow travelers stole nearly $100,000 from 119 Wal-Marts.
“This was no small-scale operation,” U.S. District Judge William Steele said. “It was, in fact, a large-scale operation.”
The judge placed most of the blame squarely on Myers, sentencing him to eight years in prison — almost three years longer than the maximum term suggested under advisory sentencing guidelines. Steele said the nature of the offense and Myers’ extensive criminal record called for a harsher punishment.
At a separate hearing, Steele sentenced Myers’ girlfriend, Crystal Bowers, to three years and a month.
Myers protested the prosecution’s contention that he was the mastermind and leader of the criminal ring, but Steele remained unmoved. According to testimony from two co-defendants, Bowers and Myers called themselves Bonnie and Clyde, after a pair of notorious robbers who traveled the country during the Great Depression.
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