LOS ANGELS — A federal judge Monday sentenced a Monterey Park man who was already on parole for identity theft to 8 years in prison in connection with another identity theft case, officials said.
Robert Delgado, 40, pleaded guilty in May to conspiracy to commit bank fraud, U.S. Attorney’s spokesman Thom Mrozek said in a written statement. He also admitted participating in a scheme in which he and others used other people’s information to obtain credit at stores and make purchases.
When arrested on March 8, Delgado was trying to hide a computer hard drive that contained personal information for more than 300,000 people, computer images used create copies of credit cards, computer images used to create DMV documents and ID cards and scanned checks in the names of other people, Mrozek said.
“Authorities are continuing to investigate how Delgado came into possession of the 300,000 identity profiles,” he said.
Three other men involved in the fraud have also been guilty and are awaiting sentencing, officials said.
Officials learned of the fraud after a victim reported to the U.S. Post Office that his mail had been put on a vacation hold without his permission, and there were fraudulent charges on his Lowe’s store credit card, which was managed by GE Moneybank, Mrozek said.
“Delgado’s telephone records showed that he had called GE Moneybank’s automated service line, which allows callers to check their available credit, 350 times in three months, even though he did not have a Lowe’s account,” Mrozek added.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.