Maryland pair using bogus credit cards guilty of fraud

A pair of Maryland men who attempted to buy gift and prepaid phone cards using bogus credit cards at two New Kent grocery stores pleaded guilty to credit card fraud Monday in county circuit court.

Sallu Deen, 31, and Alieu Mansaray, 29, both of the 7700 block of Seans Terrace in Lanham, Md., had more than 60 credit cards either on their person or in their vehicle when New Kent deputies caught up to them at their second grocery store stop.

Both pleaded guilty to one count of attempted credit card fraud during separate trials Monday. Following terms of a plea deal, Judge Thomas B. Hoover sentenced each man to 364 days in prison and a $500 fine. Each could have received up to five years in prison. The state’s sentencing guidelines recommended only probation and no jail time.

Last July 24 around 4 p.m., the pair entered the Food Lion store on Route 249 near Quinton and attempted to buy $400 gift cards and other items, prosecutor Linwood Gregory told the court. When the credit cards they presented were rejected, the store manager alerted the sheriff’s office, but the pair had left by the time deputies arrived.

But deputies didn’t have to go far to track down the pair. Armed with a description of the suspects’ vehicle, deputies Butch Gay and David Teagle spotted the orange, late model Chevrolet Camaro they were looking for in the parking lot of the Food Lion on Route 60 near Bottoms Bridge, Gregory said.

Gay began questioning Mansaray, still seated in the vehicle. Deen, meanwhile, had gone inside the store. Gregory said Mansaray then sent text messages alerting Deen to police presence outside and telling him not to buy anything. Deen made his way outside the store through a back door, only to find Teagle waiting, the prosecutor added.

Under questioning, the pair told deputies they had bought the cards four or five days earlier from an unknown person in Maryland. Gregory said several of the cards bore no names or had altered numbers.

In working with the U.S. Secret Service on the investigation, Gregory said he learned that criminals often buy bogus cards in bundles costing $300 to $1,000 from “unknown” dealers. Thus those who sell or alter cards are somewhat insulated from arrest.

Deen’s attorney, Joseph Peter Drennan, told the judge his client’s behavior “shows a terrible lack of sophistication.”

Hoover replied, “He may not be a real good criminal, but he’s still a criminal.”

Hoover questioned Gregory concerning the prison time listed in the plea deal. “Why the magic number of 364 days?” the judge asked.

Gregory said the number could allow Mansaray, who is not a U.S. citizen, to remain in this country. Hoover, however, leaned toward favoring deportation to which Gregory replied, “I’m not certain [364 days] won’t prevent him from being deported.”

Mansaray’s attorney, David J. Kiyonaga, said his client has been in the U.S. for 18 years and recently applied for citizenship.

“A felony conviction could end that and he could be deported,” Hoover told the attorney.

The judge asked if the defendants could pay their respective $500 fines today. “And not with a credit card,” he added.

A friend on Mansaray’s paid cash in the clerk’s office. Deen told the judge his girlfriend could pay tomorrow.

In comments to the judge, Deen asked Hoover if time behind bars could be reduced. The judge displayed a copy of the plea deal and told the defendant that won’t happen.

“You signed that,” the judge told Deen. “This is your word, your contract, and I’m going to follow what the plea agreement says.”