By Earl Rinehart, The Columbus Dispatch
COLUMBUS – A minor player in a major credit-card scam, the last of nine people to be sentenced in the case, pleaded for leniency Wednesday, saying he needs to be a father to his four siblings and his three children — including a fourth on the way.
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Joey Westbrook, 21, formerly of Reynoldsburg, told U.S. District Court Judge Michael H. Watson that he and his siblings never had a father figure.
“One of the most difficult things about my job is every time I sentence someone, I’m sentencing their family,” Watson said.
The judge listened as Westbrook talked about a father in prison on drug charges, how he had to be the man in the family and how he had made mistakes.
Defense attorney Dennis C. Belli said Westbrook’s mother “had issues,” too, but that Westbrook had instructed him, “Don’t say anything negative about my mother.”
Westbrook, who pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud, said he wants to renew his focus on his musical career to help care for his family. About 20 relatives, including the grandmothers who helped raise him and his children, were in the courtroom Wednesday.
Belli asked Watson to sentence Westbrook to the 14 months he’s already served in jail. He said that was enough, considering his client’s minor role in the crime.
U.S. Attorney Peter Glenn-Appleagate requested a 45-month prison sentence, which would be at the bottom of the sentencing guidelines.
Watson went below that, sentencing Westbrook to 36 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. He gave him credit for the time he’s served, meaning he’ll serve less than two years.
Authorities say Westbrook and the others took part in a scheme between April 2012 and March 2015 in which Francois Toure, 26, of Reynoldsburg obtained more than 4,700 stolen credit card numbers over the Internet and re-encoded the magnetic strips of genuine prepaid or gift cards to reflect the stolen credit card numbers.
Shoppers used the re-encoded cards to buy genuine gift cards, cigarettes, and other merchandise and Beechcroft Newsstand, a convenience store on the Northeast Side owned by Mohamed and Ahmad Mobarak and used the store’s point-of-sale terminal to fraudulently redeem genuine gift cards purchased by the shoppers. Mohamed Mobarak filled privately owned ATMs with funds that were in part the proceeds of credit card fraud, according to court documents.
Investigators determined that the netted $3,179,329.06.
All nine defendants pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and received sentences ranging from 33 to 60 months.