An Oklahoma City man and woman were sentenced to prison in connection with a string of identity theft and fraudulent credit card crimes, according to a news release from
John C. Richter,
U.S. attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma.
Ryan Jay Meckenstock, 35, and
Nicole Lanae Stevenson, 25, were sentenced Wednesday on charges of fraudulently obtaining credit cards and aggravated identity theft. On Sept. 5, a federal grand jury indicted Meckenstock and
Stevenson on 11 counts, including conspiracy to commit access device fraud, aggravated identity theft and possession of false identification documents, the release states. They each pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining credit cards and aggravated identity theft Oct. 10 before U.S. District Judge
Vicki Miles-LaGrange. At the sentencing hearing Wednesday, Meckenstock was ordered to serve 119 months in federal prison and
Stevenson was ordered to serve 168 months. Each defendant was ordered to pay $101,896 in restitution to their victims. Meckenstock and
Stevenson obtained names, Social Security numbers, driver's licenses, birth records, military IDs, student IDs and other forms of identifications through stolen medical files, Internet searches, credit reports, car burglaries and stolen/discarded mail. They used this information to produce counterfeit identification documents, such as driver's licenses and Social Security cards, with their photos. The counterfeit IDs were used to obtain merchandise and credit from various merchants, including
Circuit City, Sam's and
Bass Pro Shop. The defendants had about 150 counterfeit driver's licenses and 68 Social Security cards.