The United States Attorney's Office

Southern District of Florida

U.S. Department of Justice

United States Attorney

Southern District of Florida   

99 N.E. 4 Street,

Miami, FL 33132

(305)961-9001

November 10, 2008

NEWS RELEASE:

CAR SALESMAN PLEADS GUILTY TO SELLING CUSTOMER DATA
TO IDENTITY THEFT RING; MEMBER OF RING PLEADS GUILTY

R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Jonathan I. Solomon, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau Investigation, Michael Fithen, Special Agent in Charge, United States Secret Service, and Al Lamberti, Broward County Sheriff, announced that defendant Dayton Diaz, 26, of Miramar, and Kearn Matthew, 26, of Lauderhill, pled guilty today to conspiring to commit mail fraud. Matthew also pled guilty to a substantive count of mail fraud and to aggravated identity theft. Both defendants are scheduled to appear before the Honorable William J. Zloch for sentencing on January 6, 2009.

According to the criminal indictment and court documents, Dayton Diaz was employed as a sales manager at a South Florida car dealership. As a sales manager, Diaz had access to customer data, including their names, addresses, social security numbers, and birthdays. Diaz sold the customer data of more than 75 former customers of the car dealership to his co-conspirators. Using this information, Matthew and other co-conspirators would obtain a line of credit in the name of former customers and identity theft victims. Matthew and others would then buy computers on the internet and pay for the computers using the newly acquired line of credit.

The computers were shipped via an interstate mail carrier to the home address of the identity theft victim. Knowing the approximate date and time of delivery, Diaz, Matthew, and other co-conspirators would present false information to the delivery truck driver, falsely representing to be the identity theft victim and would take possession of the fraudulently purchased computers. In total, more than $600,000 in fraudulent purchases have been linked to the fraud scheme.

At sentencing, Diaz faces a maximum of 20 years imprisonment. Matthew faces a maximum of 60 years imprisonment.

Mr. Acosta commended the investigative efforts of the Broward Sheriff's Office, United States Secret Service, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jeffrey A. Neiman.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov/ or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov/.