Identity thief sentenced

Published 9:13 pm Monday, December 8, 2014

A Suffolk woman was sentenced Monday to more than five years in prison for stealing identifying information of more than 200 people and using it to open credit card accounts in the victims’ names.

Sheila Clark Lewis, 56, received a sentence of 65 months in prison from Senior U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar. She also will be on four years of supervised release following her prison sentence and must pay $99,875.97 in restitution.

Lewis pleaded guilty to the charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft on Sept. 2.

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According to court documents, Lewis and co-conspirator Shavika Thompson acquired identity information for about 200 medical patients without authorization from Thompson’s employer, a telephone answering and messaging service that catered to doctors and other medical service practices.

They used the information to establish and use numerous store credit card accounts in victims’ names at Kmart, Sears and Kohl’s. Between November 2012 and September 2013, they made purchases using the victims’ accounts.

Surveillance videos show the defendants were together during most of the purchases.

Thompson pleaded guilty on Sept. 4 and is set to be sentenced Jan. 12.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.