Air Force veteran stole NC soldiers’ identities for Airbnb rentals, cars
An Air Force veteran stole North Carolina military members’ identities to steal rental cars and ship them to Africa and rent apartments and repost them on Airbnb, according to federal court documents.
Shabazz Emmanuel McCarthan must pay $175,000 in restitution to four Fort Bragg U.S. Army soldiers victimized in the identity theft scheme, according to a spokesperson for U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson. McCarthan will also serve more than four years in prison and two years supervised release. A co-conspirator died, according to court documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.
Last year, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States and aggravated identity theft. He was sentenced Monday.
McCarthan previously served time for bank robbery and providing false information to the FBI, The Charlotte Observer reported in 2016.
In 2019, McCarthan rented two apartments using an ID that had his photo but showed a soldier’s name and social security number. Then he posted those apartments on Airbnb, subleasing them as short-term rentals.
He also stole five rental cars, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents seized three of them at ports in Baltimore, Maryland, and Staten Island, New York. Two were on their way to the Togolese Republic in West Africa, and one was headed to Nigeria.
McCarthan also spent more than $5,000 using a Discover Bank credit card fraudulently opened in a military member’s name and financed $9,000 of furniture using a different military member’s identity.
Bad decisions in Vegas
McCarthan grew up in New Jersey and briefly joined the Air Force before becoming a top car salesman in Charlotte, according to letters his family sent into court.
A man who worked at the Mazda dealership with McCarthan in a letter to a judge said he “unfortunately got into the wrong crowd” when he “moved to Vegas.”
“As you know Vegas is typically not the best place for anyone to move to and make the best decisions,” the man wrote when asking the judge to reconsider the conditions of McCarthan’s release last year.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan C. Rodriguez released McCarthan from jail in March 2024 after his federal public defenders, John Baker and Mark Rosenblum, submitted several family letters on McCarthan’s character. They told the judge he would have a job and low-cost housing in Charlotte or free Veterans Affairs housing in Asheville if released.
His oldest sister told the judge in a letter that McCarthan’s “constant wanting to be on top and admired has clouded his mind,” referencing “the urge to be so successful and prove people wrong and negate the generational curses.”
“Our parents raised us to do the right thing in life and to remember every decision we make has a consequence either good or bad, the choice is yours,” she wrote. “Somewhere along the way Shabazz forgot that. Sometime when our backs are against the wall we... take the most desperate measure not realizing one bad decision can ruin your life and your family.”
