Unauthorized Alien Convicted of Bank and Access Device Fraud

January 15, 2010 - Ibrahima Sarr, 32, a Senegalese unauthorized alien, was found guilty today of bank fraud, conspiracy, aggravated identity theft and access device fraud by a Norfolk federal jury after the conclusion of a 3-day trial before United States District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith. Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, made the announcement. Sarr will be sentenced on April 27, 2010, and faces a maximum penalty of 95 years in prison for all counts.

According to evidence and trial testimony, Sarr engaged with four co-conspirators in cashing counterfeit checks and producing, trafficking and possessing counterfeit credit cards in late 2005 and early 2006. The four co-conspirators all pled guilty in 2006; however, Sarr remained a fugitive until May 2009 when he was arrested on the outstanding federal warrant in New York City after a traffic stop.

Sarr came to the attention of law enforcement when he and others attempted to cash a counterfeit cashier’s check for $187,200 at Monarch Bank in Virginia Beach on October 13, 2005. In addition, Sarr solicited credit card information from a co-conspirator working at the Comfort Inn Hotel at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront who supplied him with approximately 80 stolen credit card account numbers from hotel guests. Sarr used these stolen credit card numbers and stolen credit information from other sources to produce counterfeit cards in the name of the co-conspirators. The loss amount for the credit cards was over $200,000.

Today’s announcement is the result of the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Postal Inspection Service. Assistant United States Attorney Stephen Haynie and Special Assistant United States Attorney Karen Somers prosecuted the case for the United States.