SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Reginald Lamont Thomas, 47, of Fairfield, was sentenced today to six years and three months in prison and ordered to pay $132,685 in restitution for nine counts of bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.
According to court documents, between April 2018 and September 2019, Thomas used a victim’s personally identifiable information (PII) to take over the victim’s checking and savings account at Wells Fargo. Thomas convinced Wells Fargo bank representatives to change the address information on the victim’s accounts to an address associated with Thomas and to ship a new debit card to Thomas at the new address. Thomas then used the debit card to make various unauthorized transactions, including buying a used car at a dealership in Solano County and paying for a subscription to the dating service Plenty of Fish. Thomas incurred approximately $112,874 in debit card charges and an additional $20,000 loss by making other payments from the victim’s Wells Fargo bank accounts and applying for and using a Costco Citibank credit card in the victim’s name. These amounts are reflected in the restitution order.
All of the conduct in this case occurred while Thomas was on a term of federal supervised release for conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.
This case was the product of an investigation by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Denise N. Yasinow and Roger Yang prosecuted the case.