SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Matthew Gene Ballard, 38, of Manteca, pleaded guilty today to executing a bank fraud and identity theft scheme and to numerous violations of the terms of his supervised release from prison for a prior conviction, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.
According to court documents, Ballard had been released from federal prison on March 27, 2015, after serving three years in prison for similar offenses and was under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office. Between July 2015 and April 2016, while on supervision, Ballard, working with others, obtained stolen U.S. Mail and stolen property and used the identification information and mail contents to make counterfeit identifications. Ballard used the identities to fraudulently open accounts, obtain lines of credit, and get cash and goods at the expense of banks and merchants. As part of his scheme, Ballard stole his own landlord’s identity and used unauthorized credit cards to pay for personal expenses, including doctor visit co-pays.
This case is the product of an investigation by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service with the assistance of the U.S. Probation Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Rodriguez is prosecuting the cases.
Ballard is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. on April 28, 2017. Ballard faces the maximum statutory penalty of 30 years in prison for bank fraud, 20 years in prison for possession of counterfeit identification, and a mandatory two-year consecutive prison sentence for aggravated identity theft. For his violation of federal supervision terms, Ballard faces up to three years in prison consecutive to any other sentence. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.