Thefts also happened in Woodland Park, Broomfield, Canon City and Pueblo
Read more: Local, State, Crime, Identity Theft, Convicted, Jail, Racketeering, Fast Food, Credit Cards, Nielson, Skinner, Stillwell, Colorado Springs
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- The El Paso County District Attorney's Office has announced the conviction of three suspects in an identity theft case that was first reported in March.
Mark Nielson, Cory Skinner and Amanda Stillwell have been given sentences of up to 10 years in prison.
Nielson, 32, was convicted of racketeering and identity theft and received a 10-year jail sentence.
Skinner, 24, was convicted of identity theft and received a 10-year jail sentence.
Stillwell, 22, was conficted of racketeering and received a jail sentence of from 8 to 10 years.
The three had used stolen credit card information to make purchases of baby clothing at a local retail outlet. However, using information gathered in the case, detectives discovered some additional 49 cases involving the trio.
They had a co-conspirator working at the Taco Bell restaurant on Academy Park Loop, who used an electronice device to steal patrons' credit card account numbers.
Thefts reached the communities of Woodland Park, Broomfield, Lakewood, Canon City, and Pueblo.
Police reported that Nielson, Skinner and Stillwell would get memberships in athletic gym clubs located in those cities, then enter other members' lockers and skim their credit card numbers on the electronic device. Using this information, they produced the account numbers onto gift cards and old credit cards bearing the suspects' names, then shop, defrauding the victims and the credit card companies.
The co-conspirators were paid by the three with gift cards loaded with victims' account information which they could use a payment.
