Jenaro Blalock, a 31-year-old from Maryland, was handed a 12-year prison sentence – along with three years of supervision following his release – on Friday after he pleaded guilty in 2013 to heading up an identity theft ring, according to a Department of Justice release.
Blalock is charged with being the leader of a fraud scheme that resulted in the theft of more than 600 identities of U.S. government employees, according to the release. Blalock worked with Christopher Bush, who was sentenced to ten years in prison on Jan. 17.
Between June 2011 and July 2013, the duo carried out the fraud by recruiting women who had access to the information through their employers, according to the release, which adds that most victims were staffers with the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Blalock provided blank driver's licenses to Bush – who created fraudulent licenses using the government employee information – and Blalock then used those fraudulent licenses to open sham credit cards, as well as to open credit lines at retailers and to take out rental cars that were then sold after the vehicle identification number was changed.
The identity theft ring resulted in between $1 million and $2.5 million in losses, according to the release.
