2018 Putnam County traffic stop linked to alleged nationwide $3 million stolen credit card ring

Thursday, January 17, 2019

A June traffic stop along Interstate 70 in Putnam County is linked to an alleged nationwide stolen credit card ring that has reportedly made $3 million in unauthorized purchases, a U.S. Secret Service affidavit indicates.

The connection has surfaced after three members of the alleged stolen credit card ring were arrested Jan. 8 in New Rochelle, N.Y. on the basis of warrants issued by the U.S. District Court in Newark, N.J.

The alleged ringleader, Hamilton Eromosele, was charged in federal court in White Plains, N.Y., with aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

Also accused of conspiracy to commit bank fraud were Youssouf "Slim" Traore and Deja Monet Handsford.

When the three were arrested at a New Rochelle apartment, Discover credit cards were found throughout the unit, according to a U.S. Secret Service agent's affidavit, and several more cards had been thrown out a window.

Eromosele -- also known as Emmanuel Eromosele and as Donald Sele according to a criminal complaint -- allegedly obtained credit cards from the "dark web" and other sources, recruited women on social media sites, arranged for them to travel to various cities, collected the goods they bought, sold the merchandise and paid them a percentage of the profits.

"To date," the criminal complaint states, "the total amount of stolen credit card purchases confirmed as part of the conspiracy is approximately $3 million."

That information "came off an affidavit for a search warrant," explained reporter Bill Heltzel, who wrote the original arrest story for the Westchester County Business Journal and Westfaironline.com and shared some of his details with the Banner Graphic.

Attached to the criminal complaint against Eromosele was a brief narrative about a June 27, 2018 incident in Putnam County, Ind., where law enforcement -- presumably the Indiana State Police -- reportedly stopped a vehicle driven by George Edandison, who is being charged with aggravated identity theft in U.S. District Court.

According to an affidavit signed by Special Agent Paul Newman of the U.S. Secret Service, Edandison initially identified himself as "Promise Eromosele" during the I-70 stop.

Law enforcement officers, the affidavit continues, "conducted a lawful search of the vehicle, which revealed, among other things, fake identification cards bearing Edandison's photograph and fraudulent Discover and Master Card credit cards."

The affidavit also notes that Edandison gave written consent for law enforcement to search an iPhone located in the vehicle. The phone contained a WhatsApp conversation with a contact bearing a profile photo of Eromosele, court records show, and the communication concerned the use of stolen credit cards and instructions from Eromosele to Edandison about execution of the scheme, the affidavit added.

A search of Putnam County Prosecutor's Office records, however, revealed nothing to indicate any local charges being filed in the case.

The defendants have had other previous encounters with law enforcement.

In 2016, for instance, Eromosele was arrested in East Rutherford, N.J., after police were alerted to women being held against their will in a hotel room, with a credit card scheme under way, according to the criminal complaint in the new case.

In that case, authorities found 19 bogus Discover cards in an unoccupied hotel room with Eromosele in another unit. On a laptop computer in his room were dozens of files listing hundreds of credit card accounts, 700 of which had been stolen, the criminal complaint noted.

Handsford was arrested in Lyons, Ga., in 2017 after an Uber driver reported suspicious activity. The driver had picked her up at a hotel, driving her to several stores where she used multiple credit cards.

Police confiscated the merchandise and four Discover cards from the trunk of the Uber car. Discover verified it had no accounts under Handsford's name.

Traore, meanwhile, was arrested last year while trying to buy a $4,800 Rolex watch at a Fayetteville, Ark., jewelry store. The Discover card he used was listed in his name but was under a stolen account number.

In addition to the Putnam County incident, arrest records also mention trips to and incidents in Phoenix, Omaha and Oklahoma City, along with Allentown and Lehigh County, Pa.

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  • no local charges filed??? interesting!!!

    -- Posted by becker on Thu, Jan 17, 2019, at 9:29 PM
  • ^not terribly interesting if they did not break any local laws in this jurisdiction.

    -- Posted by Koios on Fri, Jan 18, 2019, at 7:22 PM
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