Essex Man Among Five Sentenced In Bank Fraud Case

An Essex man was sentenced Friday in federal court to more than 8 years in prison for his part in a bank fraud conspiracy.

Boaz Bratton-Bey, 29, pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, aggravated identity theft and credit card fraud.

The charges stem from a fraud conspiracy that operated for over 4 years and fleeced over 250 victims of between $2.5 and $7 million dollars.

The scheme operated through stolen personal and financial data belonging to individuals doing business with health care facilities and collection agencies, collected from customers at local hotels and restaurants using skimming devices, as well as personal account information purchased from the Internet, according to a statement from US District Attorney's Office.

Bratton-Bey and the other defendants then manufactured and used fake credit cards in order to make purchases of gift cards and high dollar items which were then exchanged for cash.

Boaz Bratton-Bey was sentenced along with his brother, Moadian Bratton-Bey, and Ehizele Aydo Seignious, 33, of Baltimore, on Friday. Moadian Bratton-Bey and Ehizele Seignious were each sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The US District Attorney's office announced Monday that two other defendants in the case,  Wali Hamzah Smith, 31 and Sherice Myra Jones, 28, both of Baltimore, were sentenced to  prison terms of nearly 6 years and four years respectively.