Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Ellen L. Hollander sentenced Reginald McElrath, age 40, of Cockeysville, Maryland, to 18 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for a scheme to steal cell phones worth more than $500,000. Judge Hollander ordered that McElrath must pay restitution in the full among of the victims’ losses, which the parties agree is not more than $366,015.50.
The sentence was announced by Erek L. Barron, United States Attorney for the District of Maryland and Postal Inspector in Charge Damon E. Wood of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service - Washington Division.
According to his plea agreement and other court documents, from July 2019 to January 2020, McElrath and his co-defendants, Chantelle Harris, Robert Patterson, and Danisha Thomas used the identifying information of at least 17 individuals to obtain new cell phones. McElrath, Harris, and Patterson worked in Maryland for a vendor contracted by a multinational retail corporation to handle all contractual wireless phone transactions in their stores. As cell service associates, McElrath, Harris, and Patterson were required to obtain the personal identifying information (PII) of customers in order to initiate a new account or upgrade an existing account. McElrath, Harris, and Patterson admitted that they used their positions to apply for new cell phone accounts with various carriers and to apply for upgraded cell phones on existing cell phone accounts in the victims’ names using the PII of the victims without their knowledge or permission. McElrath, Harris, and Patterson also charged purchases of new cell phones to fraudulent cell phone service accounts they opened in the victims’ names and none of the costs were borne by members of the conspiracy.
Co-defendant Danisha Thomas and other conspirators received the fraudulently obtained cell phones directly from McElrath, Harris, Patterson and others from inside the retail store. McElrath received cash and payments through CashApp as compensation for his role in the scheme.
McElrath and his co-defendants used the stolen PII of approximately 51 individual victims to fraudulently obtain at least $537,000 worth of cell phones. Fraudulent transactions personally conducted or attempted by McElrath in furtherance of the fraud conspiracy and scheme totaled approximately $366,015.50.
Co-defendants Danisha Lee Thomas, age 40, of Bladensburg, Maryland; Robert Earl Patterson, Jr., age 22, of Odenton, Maryland; and Chantelle Harris, age 34, of Hyattsville, Maryland, also pleaded guilty to their roles in the conspiracy.
United States Attorney Erek L. Barron commended the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for their work in the investigation. Mr. Barron thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Colleen Elizabeth McGuinn, who prosecuted the case.
For more information on the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, please visit www.justice.gov/usao/md.
