Newcastle man responsible for $3 million ID theft ring is sentenced

After a decade of stealing credit cards from gym lockers to purchase and fence high-end goods, Newcastle resident Gabriel Jang, 37, was sentenced today to eight and a half years in prison.

According to court documents, Jang and other conspirators would frequent work-out facilities and fitness centers in Washington, Oregon and as far away as Georgia, and would break into the lockers of people using the gyms. Jang  provided his accomplices with mobile computer equipment to quickly manufacture false identity documents, such as drivers licenses, to be used with the stolen credit cards. They then used the stolen credit cards and fake IDs to purchase high-end electronics.

PayPal records indicate Jang’s account received more than $3 million between April of 2001, and August of 2008. 

Jang’s sentence also included five years of supervised release and hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution for Conspiracy to Commit Bank and Wire Fraud, Access Device Fraud, Structuring Currency Transactions and Aggravated Identity Theft. 

Jang was also ordered to forfeit three houses purchased with the proceeds of his scheme as well as $116,527.00 in cash, and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of stolen goods.

In asking for a significant sentence, Assistant United States Attorney Norman Barbosa noted that the conspiracy spanned five different states, victimized dozens of individuals and more than twenty banks.  Jang “was at the center of this conspiracy and he was responsible for providing sophisticated computer support that allowed the conspiracy to flourish for years,” Mr. Barbosa wrote in his sentencing memo.  “Mr. Jang operated a highly sophisticated fencing operation that generated revenues much like a mid-sized business operation.  Indeed, the computing equipment Mr. Jang utilized to support his criminal enterprise was described by Secret Service computer forensics personnel as the type of equipment they would expect to see in a small-to-medium sized business operation,” Mr. Barbosa said.