Man pleads guilty in credit fraud case

LEAGUE CITY — A League City man pleaded guilty Monday in federal court in Houston to aggravated identity theft and credit card fraud, the U.S. attorney’s office said in a statement.

Sharif John Reid, 36, remained in custody Monday awaiting sentencing, Angela Dodge, a U.S. attorney’s office spokeswoman, said.

Reid was accused of attempting to buy iPads and iPhones using unauthorized credit card numbers at the Memorial City Apple store on Aug. 7.

Reid gave a fraudulent Florida driver’s license displaying a different name with his photograph, Dodge said.

“Apple loss prevention officers immediately recognized the name on the card as the name used to make more than $200,000 in purchases of Apple electronic equipment using fraudulent credit card numbers at Apple store locations in Louisiana and throughout Texas,” Dodge said.

Houston police arrested Reid, and a search revealed he possessed 18 credit cards each bearing that name, Dodge said.

Police searched Reid’s rental car and found 20 more credit cards in the fraudulent name, Dodge said. Police also found four iPads and four iPhones valued at more than $6,000. The items were purchased the same day at Apple stores in the Galleria and in Sugar Land, using credit cards that matched numbers found in Reid’s possession, Dodge said.

The U.S. Secret Service contacted banks that issued the cards and then contacted the cardholders and learned they didn’t know Reid and had not given him permission to use the credit cards, Dodge said.

A Citibank fraud investigator told the Secret Service the credit cards were some of hundreds that had been skimmed at a business in Austin, Dodge said.

Reid admitted in court that he was previously convicted of credit card fraud and was serving a term of supervised release at the time of the Aug. 7 offense, Dodge said.

U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt scheduled an April 23 sentencing hearing, in which Reid faces up to 20 years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine for credit card fraud. Reid also faces a mandatory two-year prison sentence for aggravated identity theft, which must be served consecutively, Dodge said.