NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

BETH PHILLIPS

Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106

www.usdoj.gov../index.html

JANUARY 22, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FORMER KC MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO IDENTITY THEFT,

CREDIT CARD FRAUD

RESTAURANT WAITER TARGETED

CUSTOMERS ON THE PLAZA

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a former Kansas City, Mo., man pleaded guilty in federal court today to stealing identity information from customers at the Plaza restaurant where he worked, then using that information to make online purchases.

John David Woody, 35, of Los Angeles, Calif., formerly of Kansas City, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner this morning to the charges contained in a Nov. 18, 2008, federal indictment.

Woody admitted that in July and August 2008 he gained access to the credit card numbers of 20 customers at the Brio Tuscan Grille in the County Club Plaza while he was employed as a waiter at the restaurant. Woody used an electronic device to skim the magnetic strip on the back of credit cards to capture all the credit and identity information necessary to effect financial transactions without the knowledge and authority of the cardholder. The credit cards were then returned to the customers.

Woody used customers’ identity information and credit card numbers to place online orders, including thousands of dollars worth of boxed sets of DVDs.

Under federal statutes, Woody is subject to a sentence of up to 35 years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $750,000 and an order of restitution. Woody is also subject to a two-year mandatory sentence for aggravated identity theft, which is required to run consecutively to the sentence imposed for credit card fraud and mail fraud. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John E. Cowles. It was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

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