FRESNO, CALIF. — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - California, Eastern), published as received.
FRESNO, Calif. — Sean Lamont Wyatt, 46, of Los Angeles County, pleaded guilty today to identity theft and aggravated identity theft, United States Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.
According to court documents, in June 2021, 27 pages of victims’ personally identifiable information were found in Wyatt’s assigned inmate bunk at the federal prison in Atwater. Investigation revealed that while Wyatt was incarcerated, he used a contraband phone to call victims’ banks and creditors. In the phone calls, Wyatt used the victims’ names, dates of birth, addresses, and social security numbers to falsely identity himself and to add himself as an authorized user on the victims’ accounts. Wyatt did this to boost his own credit. Wyatt then used his boosted credit to apply for new credit lines.
This case was the product of an investigation by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Assistant United States Attorney Brittany M. Gunter is prosecuting the case.
Wyatt is scheduled to be sentenced on October 7, 2024. Wyatt faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for identity theft and a mandatory consecutive sentence of two years in prison for aggravated identity theft. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.
