ST. LOUIS — A Florissant man was sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $800,000 after using multiple fake IDs and fraudulent bank accounts and credit cards to defraud a charity and other victims.
Brandon Harper, 36, was sentenced to 60 months in prison after admitting to using fake IDs and credit cards to defraud his victims out of more than $500,000, a press release from the U.S. Attorney of Eastern Missouri.
Police said the investigation started when they pulled Harper over for a traffic violation. Because of an arrest warrant, police searched his car and found multiple passports and IDs under different names. They also found five MasterCard or Visa cards issued to other people and more than $15,000 in Amazon gift cards and cash.
After launching an investigation, they discovered receipts, checks, and other financial documents from BMO Harris Bank, Academy Bank, Bank of America, Regions Bank, PNC Bank and US Bank. They subpoenaed the banks and found that someone diverted $400,000 in payments from a Catholic charity. Video showed Harper using one of the fake IDs to withdraw $222,000 and put it in an account he controlled.
Further investigation showed the fraud scheme involved more than $500,000 of fraudulent transactions between May 21, 2018, and Oct. 2, 2018.
Police said he was on probation while running the fraud scheme, but had a job at Office Max/Office Depot as a manager and cashier. The company's loss prevention department discovered he made more than $20,000 in gift card transactions in one day and $150,000 over the span of seven months.
Harper pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated identity theft. On Friday, he was sentenced to 60 months in federal prison.
