Credit scam nets 12 years

0 Comments | Philadelphia Daily News, May, 2008 | by MICHAEL HINKELMAN hinkelm@phillynews.com 215-854-2656

A federal judge yesterday sentenced a Strawberry Mansion man to 12 years behind bars for credit-card and identity fraud.

Gregory Jones, 44, aka "G," was also ordered by U.S. District Judge Eduardo C. Robreno to make restitution of $288,687 to American Express, $16,278 to GE Money Bank and $6,609 to Discover.

Jones, who has been in federal custody since December 2006, pleaded guilty in March 2007 and admitted to running a plant where he made fake ID and credit cards.

Federal agents executed a search warrant in May 2006 at Girard Avenue near 42nd Street and found Jones alone in a one-room apartment with a credit-card machine producing counterfeit credit cards, court papers said.

Authorities said Jones also possessed hundreds of stolen identities, several...