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U.S. Department of Justice PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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Local maker of false identifications sentenced to maximum 78 months in prison
Washington, D.C. - A local manufacturer of false identifications, Calvin C. McCants, has been sentenced to a maximum 78 months in prison, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor, James B. Burch, Special Agent in Charge of the Washington Field Office, U.S. Secret Service, and Joseph Persichini, Jr., Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's Washington Field Office, announced today.
McCants, 57, most recently of the 4400 block of 15th Street, NW, Washington, D.C., was sentenced earlier today by U.S. District Judge John Garrett Penn, who also ordered that the defendant be placed on three years of supervised release upon completion of his prison sentence for possession of false document-making implements. Judge Penn further ordered McCants to pay restitution in the amount of $77,852.15. McCants pleaded guilty in August 2003.
According to the government’s evidence presented at the sentencing hearing, McCants’ offices, storage bins, home, and car have been the subject of numerous court-authorized searches by law enforcement dating back to 2000. In each location, agents found evidence that McCants operated a factory which produced false identifications, unauthorized credit cards, and counterfeit checks. McCants possessed the raw materials, that is: credit histories of real people who had excellent credit ratings; blank credit cards; check paper stock; templates for drivers’ licenses, military identifications, and Social Security cards; and credit card numbers. McCants had very sophisticated tools, such as: scanners; specialized color printers; laminators; card readers; corner rounders; embossing machines; ID makers; computers and software; birth certificates and official seals; and books on creating “fool-proof” identities and drivers’ licenses. His productivity spawned over 300 drivers’ licenses, credit cards and other access devices, $110,000 in loan fraud, and an array of work identification cards, Social Security numbers cards, counterfeit checks, and military identification badges. McCants had the customers who purchased McCants’ products in order to commit bank fraud using the false information to obtain loans or open bank accounts.
After several days of hearing evidence and argument, Judge Penn agreed with the government as to the amount of loss and the upward adjustment for sophisticated means. Judge Penn also followed the government’s request and gave McCants a two-level upward departure from the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. The Court then sentenced McCants to the top of the Federal Sentencing Guideline range, that is, 78 months, to be served consecutively to the sentence imposed in Maryland. The defendant appealed his sentence and the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit remanded the case. Today, Judge Penn imposed the same sentence as earlier.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Taylor, Special Agent in Charge Burch, and Assistant Director in Charge Persichini commended the group effort of law enforcement agents who worked tirelessly on this case, including the U.S. Secret Service Metro Area Fraud Task Force, and most specifically Special Agents Eddie A. Winkley, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Geoffrey Porter, U.S. Secret Service. In addition, they praised Paralegal Specialist Jeanie Latimore-Brown, and legal Assistant April Peeler, and commended Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Ambrosino, Judith Kidwell, Timothy Lucas, and Virginia Cheatham.
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