Identity Theft Ringleader Sentenced to 15 Years
Posted on Dec 25, 2008 9:50am PST
In Fresno, California, Jesus Ledesma was recently sentenced to 15 years and eight months in prison for his role as the ringleader in over 50
identity theft incidents. As the leader of the ongoing
theft crime ring, Jesus victimized over 50 people throughout the state of California.
In May 2008, Jesus pled "no contest" to over 150 counts of identity theft and theft related offenses. All of the offenses were categorized as felonies. He was sentenced on Christmas Eve in Fresno.
In February, three other people were arrested and connected with Jesus. Gilbert Chavez, Linda Arreola, and Juan Hernandez all pled no contest to their identity theft charges. Chavez alone was charged with 70 counts of identity theft. He agreed to serve 7 years in California prison.
Hernandez and Arreola were both charged with 2 felony counts of identity theft. They were sentenced with probation and no jail time.
While the ID theft ring was in operation, the offenders made phone calls to random individuals and posed as banking officials and credit card employees. They would request personal information from their victims, which they then used to open fraudulent credit card accounts.
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