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Hartford resident Jonathan Preston, 27, has been sentenced to 14 months behind bars for violating the conditions of his supervised release from prison, U.S. Attorney John Durham announced. He previously served 46 months in prison for similar offenses.
Beginning in 2010, Preston began operating a scheme, using the Internet and other sources to obtain the personal identifying information of several prominent individuals, including entertainers and professional athletes, Durham said. Using that information, he posed as those individuals to gain access to their credit card accounts.
In total, Preston and another suspect made more than $500,000 in unauthorized purchases and cash withdrawals.
Preston was arrested and pleaded guilty to one count to commit wire fraud in 2014, when he was sentenced to 46 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. He was released from prison in August 2017.
Last month, on Feb. 22, Preston was arrested by police Hartford on fraud, larceny and identity theft charges. The investigation into his latest scheme determined that Preston fraudulently obtained an American Express card for an account belonging to a prominent entertainer’s business, and then used the card to make multiple charges, causing a loss of $13,296.93.
Following Monday’s sentencing, Preston was remanded into the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service to begin his sentence. When he is released from prison, he will be on supervised release for another 32 months.
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