An illegal alien, a citizen of Romania and Ireland, was sentenced to federal prison today for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
U.S. District Judge Julie R. Rubin sentenced Fabritio Sardaru, 22, to two years in prison for his role in a scheme to defraud the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP).
Related posts
Kelly O. Hayes, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, announced the sentence alongside Special Agent in Charge Charmeka Parker, U.S. Department of Agriculture – Office of Inspector General (USDA-OIG) Northeast Region; Chief Marc R. Yamada, Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD); and Chief Gregory Der, Howard County Police Department (HCPD).
According to his plea deal, Sardaru was a member of a conspiracy to defraud the United States and various receivers of Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) benefits. In 2022, Sardaru and his accomplices obtained EBT information from victims across the United States, including Maryland, California, Kentucky, Tennessee, New York, and other states. They employed skimming devices and other methods to carry out the scheme.
The co-conspirators participated in skimming operations in various ways, including acquiring skimming equipment, shipping it to co-conspirators, and installing or removing it from point-of-sale (POS) terminals at various commercial establishments.
They also monitored activities at POSs with installed skimming equipment and duplicated victims’ EBT cards using the data collected by the skimming devices. Co-conspirators then fraudulently purchased significant quantities of things using cloned EBT cards, including several victims’ personal identifying information.
On July 21, 2022, Sardaru fraudulently received $8,770.03 in proceeds to further the plan. Sardaru and a co-conspirator used cloned EBT cards to buy 11 cans of infant formula from grocery stores in Howard and Montgomery counties. On the same day, MCPD officers pulled over a car Sardaru was driving. During the car stop, law officers discovered about 353 cans of infant formula.
Due to the loss of their SNAP payments, at least 15 individuals were unable to obtain food until their funds were replenished the following month. The overall loss attributed to the conspiracy in Maryland is around $343,756.
U.S. Attorney Hayes praised the USDA-OIG, MCPD, and HCPD for their efforts in the investigation, as well as the Maryland Department of Human Services, Office of Inspector General, for their invaluable help. Ms. Hayes also commended Assistant U.S. Attorney Elliot Higgins for prosecuting the case.
