The architects of a ATM skimming ring that pilfered from thousands of victims have been sentenced to federal prison while one remains a fugitive, federal authorities announced Wednesday.
Michael J. Ellis has been sentenced for stealing the bank debit card numbers and personal identification numbers of individuals in Georgia and Florida through an automated teller machine skimming device, U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said.
“This sentencing marks the end of an ATM skimming ring that victimized over 5,000 people in Georgia and Florida,” Yates announced Wednesday. “Identity theft is a growing problem that damages the good names and credit of too many innocent people, and we remain committed to combating this insidious crime in all of its various forms.”
The case, which was investigated by the Secret Service, showed that Ellis, in league with co-defendants Zira M. Bailey and Bryan S. Kees, used illegal skimming devices to steal more than $130,000 from bank customers, Yates said. The crew installed the devices at SunTrust automated teller machines in Georgia and Florida. The device then electronically recorded the customer’s debit card number and a small camera in the device video recorded the ATM keyboard as the customer entered his or her PIN, Yates said. Ellis and company then downloaded the information to a computer and re-encoded gift cards with the stolen account information, which they used to drain victims’ bank accounts, Yates said.
The case, however, grew to take on an international element. On Dec. 28, 2012, Bulgarian Customs officials notified the Secret Service that a DHL parcel containing illegal skimming devices was being shipped to a UPS Store in Atlanta.
Secret Service agents intercepted the package and found three skimming devices. Ellis, Bailey and another co-conspirator, WB Wohrman, were listed as authorized recipients of mail to the UPS box, Yates said.
During a later search of a garage controlled by Ellis, law officers found 250 financial transaction cards, magnetic reader/writers, false ATM overlays, laptops with ATM videos and debit card information, and a wig, Yates said.
Ellis, 36, of Decatur, was sentenced to eight years and five months in federal prison and three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $136,374.31 in restitution. Kees, 37, of Savannah, had previously been sentenced to seven years in federal prison; Bailey, 27, of Picayune, Miss., had previously been sentenced to five years and five months in federal prison. They were also sentenced to three years each of supervised release and $136,374.31 in restitution.
All three defendants pleaded guilty to conspiracy, access device fraud and aggravated identity theft.
In a related case, Wohrman, Plamen Atanasov, Stoyno Filtshev, Tsvetil Iliev and Nedyalko Palazov were charged with using ATM skimming devices at Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo ATMs in the metro Atlanta area, federal authorities said.
They stole more than $380,000 from bank customers, and over 4,700 victims were linked to this related scheme, federal authorities said. Iliev, 34, formerly of Atlanta, is currently a fugitive, having fled the United States after his indictment with the assistance of Kees and Bailey, authorities said.
Earlier this year, the other four defendants pleaded guilty to conspiracy, access device fraud and aggravated identity theft. Wohrman, 37, of Buford, was sentenced on April 28 to eight years and three months in prison, three years of supervised release, and $386,951 in restitution.
The other three were sentenced on April 25 as follows:
• Atanasov, 31, of Sandy Springs, was sentenced to seven years in prison, three years of supervised release, and $386,951 in restitution.
• Filtshev, 53, of Atlanta, was sentenced to seven years and eleven months in prison, three years of supervised release, and $386,951 in restitution.
• Palazov, 29, of Atlanta, was sentenced to eight years and eleven months in prison, three years of supervised release, and $386,951 in restitution.
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