WILLIAMSPORT- The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Ian Keith Thompson, age 32, of New York, New York, was sentenced today to 24 months’ imprisonment to be followed by three years of supervised release by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Matthew W. Brann for conspiracy to commit mail fraud. Chief Judge Brann also ordered Thompson to pay $339,804 in restitution to Sprint.
According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, Thompson and his codefendants, Horace Henry, age 44, Andrew Craig Herdsman, age 35, and George Bobb, age 38, all New York residents, devised a scheme to defraud Sprint. As part of the scheme, the conspirators fraudulently entered into cell phone service contracts using the personal identification information of 264 real persons, without those persons’ consent. In doing so, they caused the shipment of approximately 892 iPhones to Centre, Northumberland, Montour, and Mifflin Counties in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Sprint incurred actual and attempted losses totaling in excess of $750,000. During the scheme, Thompson and his codefendants used shipment tracking numbers to determine when packages containing iPhones were scheduled for delivery. They then traveled from New York to the individual victims’ residences, and retrieved the packages at the delivery locations, or directly from delivery persons using counterfeit identification documents bearing the personal identification information of the individual victims and photos of the conspirators.
Thompson’s codefendants received the following sentences:
- Horace Henry – sentenced on February 28, 2022, to 144 months’ imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $705,803 restitution to Sprint after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and aggravated identify theft;
- Andrew Craig Herdsman – sentenced on August 19, 2021, to 36 months’ imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $511,573 restitution to Sprint after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and aggravated identify theft; and,
- George Bobb – sentenced on July 27, 2021, to 33 months’ imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release and $339,804 restitution to Sprint after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud.
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigation, the Pennsylvania State Police, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, the Delaware State Police, and the Spring Township Police Department, Patton Township Police Department, State College Police Department, with the cooperation and assistance of Sprint and Sprint Fraud Management. Assistant U.S. Attorney George J. Rocktashel prosecuted the case.
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