From the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota:

The last of seven defendants pleaded guilty earlier today in federal court in St. Paul in connection with a credit card skimming operation that resulted in an estimated loss of more than $150,000.

Appearing before United States District Court Judge Richard H. Kyle, Nancia Raquel Range, age 34, of St. Paul, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Range was indicted on August 19, 2010, along with six co-defendants.

Those co-defendants already have pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy. Brandon Conique Scott, age 27, of Eagan, pleaded guilty on November 16, 2010; Anthony Duane Curry, age 23, of Plymouth, and Demetrius Darnell Thomas, age 35, of Rogers, pleaded guilty on November 15, 2010; Kanetra Danielle Range, age 31, of Rogers, pleaded guilty on November 9, 2010; Brian Craig Davis, age 46, of Chaska, pleaded guilty on November 4, 2010; and Makiesha Edwina Mayo, age 29, of St. Paul, pleaded guilty on October 5, 2010.

According to their plea agreements, the defendants participated in the skimming scheme during the last several months of 2009. During the course of this scheme, Kanetra Range and Thomas recruited restaurant workers to obtain customer credit and debit cards for skimming. Scott, who worked at the Split Rock Grill in Bloomington, provided those cards to his co-conspirators, who actually sat at a table in the restaurant with a machine that read each card’s magnetic strip. Scott also admitted that between $10,000 and $30,000 in unauthorized purchases were made by co-conspirators with the card information he obtained.

Curry, who worked at an Olive Garden restaurant, provided card data to his co-conspirators using a skimming machine. He admitted that between $30,000 and $70,000 in unauthorized
purchases were made by co-conspirators with the card information he obtained.

Mayo worked at two different Wendy’s fast-food restaurants, where she ran customer credit and debit cards through a skimming machine provided to her. She admitted that between $120,000 and $200,000 in unauthorized purchases were made by herself and co-conspirators during the course of the conspiracy.

Davis admitted receiving re-encoded credit and debit cards from Thomas and Kanetra Range. He then made between $150,000 and $200,00 in unauthorized purchases with those cards.

Nancia Range also admitted making purchases with debit and credit card information skimmed from the cards of other people. Moreover, she admitted being part of a separate bank fraud conspiracy with Kanetra Range and Thomas that ran from 2007 to 2008. In that scheme, they applied for and received credit cards online using the personal information of others. In total, she admitted to being responsible for between $120,000 and $200,000 in losses from the two schemes. With respect to the separate scheme, Thomas and Kanetra Range admitted that the losses were at least $400,000.

For the crimes cited in this case, the defendants face a potential maximum penalty of 30 years in prison. Judge Kyle will determine their sentences at a future hearing, yet to be scheduled.