HAMTRAMCK, Mich. – A Metro Detroit man has been sentenced in connection with a scheme to pay waitresses to steal customers' credit card information so he could use it to buy gift cards with other people's money, federal officials said.
Unsuspecting customers at a Metro Detroit Pizza Hut were just some of the 1,900 victims.
Federal officials said Carl McLoud paid waitresses $20 apiece to take customers' credit card information. Cameras aren't allowed in federal court, but the Local 4 Defenders obtained an audio recording.
"An employee of the Pizza Hut was paid $20 per card, and she had been supplying cards to Mr. McLoud," said someone on the audio recording from federal court.
When Hamtramck police caught McLoud during a routine traffic stop, he had a $30 million credit limit, all in fraudulent cards. Federal officials said he was caught on camera at a Metro Detroit Meijer, where he bought gift cards with other people's credit.
"The suspect had $1,900 stolen identities, which is enough to use a different victim's card every day of the year for more than five years," someone said in the audio recording.
In all, McLoud spent just under $1 million. It was the 30-year-old's 25th conviction.
"I would say 25 priors is the definition of a career criminal," Local 4 legal expert Keith Corbett said. "At some point, the judge is going to say, 'This guy just doesn't get it.'"
Corbet said people going out to dinner shouldn't have to worry about a waitress stealing their credit information. He predicted that with 1,900 potential victims, a nearly million-dollar fraud scheme and a length criminal past, McLoud won't be stealing cards again anytime soon.
McLoud is being held in Milan Federal Prison. The judge sentenced him to 77 months behind bars.
It's unclear if the waitresses will be charged, because their names were not made public. The waitress at Pizza Hut cooperated with federal officials against McLoud, officials said.