NC man stole military members’ identities, including one deployed overseas, feds say.
An Indian Trail man is accused of stealing the identities of military members and renting cars and apartments and opening bank accounts in their names, federal prosecutors said this week.
Shabazz Emmanuel McCarthan, who is 38, allegedly obtained at least $250,000 in goods through his scheme and damaged the military members’ credit, including at least one who was deployed overseas at the time, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Charlotte.
McCarthan allegedly had accomplices, prosecutors said, although they aren’t named in the indictment.
McCarthan and his co-conspirators are accused of obtaining military members’ personal identifying information to make fake forms of identification in the service members’ names, according to the indictment.
The indictment doesn’t say how the personal identifying information was obtained or how many military members were victimized.
The identity fraud scheme
McCarthan and his co-conspirators allegedly pulled off their “extensive identity fraud scheme” from January to October 2019, prosecutors said in a news release.
He allegedly rented multiple vehicles “that were subsequently stolen and transported in interstate and foreign commerce,” according to the release.
McCarthan also obtained furniture through the scheme, prosecutors allege.
Indictment and first appearance
A federal grand jury in Charlotte returned the criminal indictment against McCarthan in October, U.S. Attorney Dena Kings said in the news release. The indictment remained sealed until McCarthan’s arrest in Arizona on Wednesday, she said.
McCarthan made his first appearance in U.S. District Court in Arizona on Thursday, prosecutors said.
McCarthan is charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States; wire fraud; financial institution fraud; interstate transportation of a stolen motor vehicle; and three counts of aggravated identity theft.
The charges carry a total of up to 71 years in prison.