A group of eight people in two cities are accused of using stolen credit card and ID information to rent and then never return at least 19 rental cars, the Justice Department announced this week.
The suspects include a pair of Atlanta residents, Tyrell Oliver, 38, and Steven Matthews, 39. The other suspects all hail from New York City — Shawnta Fonseca, 32; Reginald Glenn, 35; Rashad Holder, 33; James McGhaney; 34, Marlique McGhaney, 33; and Daquasia Robinson, 32.
Mr. Oliver and other unspecified members of the group are accused of acquiring stolen credit card and ID information from multiple victims nationwide. Mr. Oliver is further alleged to have made the rental car reservations and to have paid other members of the purported conspiracy to pick up the cars, which were never returned. Most of the cars were SUVs.
The suspects — prosecutors didn’t specify who was accused of which theft — would fly to East Coast and Midwest airports to pick up the cars.
The rental-car company the group is accused of stealing from also was not specified by the Justice Department.
Law enforcement also explained that the ID theft victims whose information was used had initially faced theft accusations due to the rental cars not being returned.
“While the company in this case was the direct victim, innocent people were initially accused of theft because their stolen identities were used to commit the fraud,” FBI St. Louis Division Special Agent in Charge Jay Greenberg said in a statement.
Each of the eight suspects were indicted on a wire fraud conspiracy charge on July 19, with the indictments being unsealed as arrests began Wednesday.
Other charges include wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, though the Justice Department did not specify whether those charges apply to all eight suspects.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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