CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – A 43-year-old Houston man has been ordered to jail after fraudulently buying two costly autos utilizing info bought on the darkish net, introduced U.S. Lawyer Jennifer B. Lowery.
Jay Patrick Morgan pleaded responsible Oct. 21, 2021.
Right now, U.S. District Decide Nelva Gonzales Ramos ordered him to serve a 24-month sentence to be instantly adopted by one 12 months of supervised launch. Morgan was additionally ordered to pay $31,409.37 restitution to compensate for damages and the diminished worth of the recovered property.
“Right now’s sentencing is a reminder that the Secret Service is dedicated to aggressively investigating and pursuing monetary crimes,” mentioned Resident Agent in Cost Brian J. Gibson. “Id theft investigations stay a high precedence for us in our mission to guard this nation’s monetary intuitions. The success on this case demonstrates the investigative capabilities of the Secret Service and the collaborative efforts with our regulation enforcement companions.”
On March 8, 2019, Morgan bought a 2015 Ford F250 Platinum Version
pickup truck, valued at greater than $59,000. The next week, he additionally bought a 2019 Rockwood fifth Wheel leisure automobile (RV), valued at greater than $57,000 from a supplier within the Corpus Christi space. In each situations, Morgan financed the overall worth of every automobile by falsely offering the Social Safety quantity and different figuring out info of one other particular person with an analogous title.
The sufferer later contacted authorities after discovering quite a few credit score inquiries and a number of other new credit score accounts he had not requested, together with these used to buy the pickup truck and RV. The investigation confirmed the sufferer had not opened any of the credit score accounts and no funds had been made on any of the accounts. Each the pickup truck and the RV had been listed as solen autos.
In August 2019, native authorities performed a visitors cease on the stolen pickup. Morgan was driving.
He admitted he acquired the pickup truck utilizing a Social Safety quantity he had bought with Bitcoin foreign money from a web site on the darkish net. Morgan additionally admitted to fraudulently utilizing the identical info to buy an RV which he had subsequently bought to a different particular person.
Morgan has been and can stay in custody pending switch to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be decided within the close to future.
The Secret Service performed the investigation with the help of police departments in Corpus Christi and Deer Park. Assistant U.S. Lawyer Robert D. Thorpe Jr. prosecuted the case.
