Singer, producer get prison for identity theft

Federal prosecutors believe it began with the Russian Mafia, which hacked through computer firewalls of banks to steal debit card and pin numbers.

The sensitive financial information was then sold to fraudsters here, some who drained the bank accounts of many victims, including military service members while they were overseas.

On Wednesday, two area men — one a budding singer, another a record producer — were sent to prison on identity theft charges.

U.S. District Judge Jack Camp sentenced Jermaine Aldred, 32, of Atlanta, to six years and four months in prison and Dontarion Bratton, 31, of Austell, to two and a half years in custody.

The two men were ordered to pay restitution to Bank of America and Omni American Bank.

A federal investigation found that Aldred had cashed more than $500,000 in stolen U.S. Treasury checks under the guise he was working with an income tax preparer and the checks were tax refunds. Investigators also learned that Aldred, Bratton and others obtained stolen debit card numbers and bought more than $230,000 in money orders, mostly at area Post Offices.

“It is sad to see perpetrators defraud those who serve our country and fight for our freedom only to come home and find out they are victims of identity theft,” Martin Phanco, postal inspector in charge of the Atlanta division, said.

Lawyers for both men told Camp their clients were on the lowest rungs of a far-reaching conspiracy.

“In the drug business, he’s called the mule,” Atlanta lawyer Tony Axam said of Aldred, comparing him to someone smuggling relatively small amounts of drugs for a large-scale organization. “In the business of this court, we call him stupid.”

Adred, a singer who worked a janitorial business, had 14 fraudulent debit cards on him when he was arrested in December 2007.

Bratton, the record producer, told Camp he’d made a big mistake.

“He was trying to make a quick buck,” Bratton’s lawyer, Carter Clayton, said.

“A quick and fraudulent buck,” Camp interjected.