Attorney General Kamala D. Harris Announces Plea Deal in Identity Theft Conspiracy

SAN FRANCISCO --- Attorney General Kamala D. Harris announced today that a Vallejo man has entered into a plea for a four-year prison sentence for participating in an identity theft ring that defraud at least 29 victims in the Bay Area of at least $180,000.

Nick Luu, 30, of Vallejo, pled guilty in San Francisco Superior Court on August 24, 2011 to three counts of identity theft and admitted to participating in a conspiracy with five other defendants.

“Identity theft is one of the fastest growing and most insidious crimes in our technology-driven world,” Attorney General Kamala Harris said. “These criminals cost people their reputation, time and money. There must be accountability and consequences.”

From June 2009 to December 2009, Luu and five other conspirators stole personal information from various sources, including client records at a San Jose law office and Santa Clara dental office where Luu and another defendant worked.

The defendants used the information they stole to make false drivers licenses and file false change-of-address forms to divert the victims’ mail to Post Office boxes that the conspirators opened.

The conspirators then used the false driver’s licenses to open up credit accounts and buy luxury products including flat-screen TVs, Gucci watches, high-end clothing and jewelry. The defendants would often return the products for money.

Luu was one of two main defendants in the multi-defendant, 47-count complaint. Luu will be sentenced on January 5, 2012.

Luu’s three other co-defendants, Chev Chan, Matthew Medlin and Daniel Lee Lesly, have already pled. Chev Chan is due in court for pretrial on September 21.

The US Postal Inspectors Service was the law enforcement agency responsible for investigating the case with support from the California Department of Justice.