EAST ORANGE, NJ — An East Orange man has been sentenced to 27 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to defraud two banks of $250,000 using stolen credit cards and blank checks, acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig announced Aug. 18.
Allen Varice, 25, of East Orange, previously pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
Allen Varice’s conspirators — Dashawn Duncan, 27, and Alexander Varice, 22, both of South Orange; and Nasheed Jackson, 24, Tamir Duval, 22, and Qshaun Brown-Guinyard, 27, all of Newark — previously pleaded guilty before Wigenton to informations charging each with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Duncan and Jackson were sentenced in July and each received a two-year sentence. Duval, Alexander Varice and Brown-Guinyard await sentencing.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court, from August 2018 through August 2019, Allen Varice and his conspirators engaged in a scheme to use stolen credit cards and/or checks to fraudulently make purchases and withdraw money from two banks, leaving the banks to bear the losses of the scheme.
The credit cards and blank checks were stolen from various New Jersey–based U.S. Postal Service facilities and never reached their intended recipients. After obtaining the stolen credit cards, Allen Varice and his conspirators used them to make unauthorized purchases at various retail stores and to withdraw cash from ATMs in New Jersey and elsewhere. They altered the date, payee and amount of the stolen checks prior to deposit. Allen Varice and his conspirators then fraudulently withdrew money at various ATMs from third-party accounts.
In addition to the prison term, Wigenton sentenced Allen Varice to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay restitution of $43,364.
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