A federal jury in Charlotte, NC convicted Robert Johnson, 35, for credit card fraud. According to filed court documents and evidence presented at trial, from September 29 to October 20, 2018, Robert and his co-defendant, Charles Brown, 36, used a stolen credit card number to create counterfeit credit cards.
The two men then used the cards to purchase more than $250,000 of merchandise, including electronics, sneakers, clothing and gaming equipment. The defendants obtained the credit card of an individual and re-encoded the stolen credit card number onto counterfeit credit cards bearing the defendants’ names and the names of other co-conspirators.
Robert and others used the counterfeit credit cards at multiple retail stores, including at Best Buy, Foot Action, Foot Locker, and Neiman Marcus.
Robert specifically used the counterfeit credit cards to buy more than $10,000 in sneakers and apparel. The jury convicted Robert of conspiracy to commit access device fraud, which carries a maximum prison sentence of five years, and access device fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. A sentencing date for Johnson has not been set.
On November 4, 2019, Charles pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit access device fraud and is currently awaiting sentencing.
