ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, March 4, 1997 TAG: 9703040075
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
A hundred thousand dollars' worth of cosmetics goes a long way. The Secret Service is still trying to figure out exactly how far.
Two Canadian men pleaded guilty in Roanoke federal court Monday to buying $22,711 worth of cosmetics on fake credit cards. Neither has told authorities details of the scheme or said where the merchandise was going.
The Secret Service says fake credit cards from the same Canadian bank were used to run up $106,000 in cosmetics purchases in Virginia and North Carolina last fall - although that entire amount hasn't been linked to this pair.
The two would go into department stores and buy thousands of dollars' worth of Estee Lauder, Elizabeth Arden, Polo and other cosmetics and fragrances. At one store, they explained they needed $2,500 worth of makeup for 36 bridesmaids in a Charlotte wedding.
They were caught after a two-week shopping spree when Leggett put out a memo to other stores to be on the lookout for them. A credit card company had notified the chain's Lynn Haven Mall store in Virginia Beach that $13,000 in purchases had been made with fraudulent credit cards. When the pair showed up at Roanoke's Valley View Mall store and then the Lynchburg store on the same day last October, police arrested them.
The credit cards were imprinted with real account numbers of customers at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in Vancouver, but had fake names. The two men, Heng Kuoi Lam, 24, and Ryan C. Lee, 26, also used phony Social Security numbers, and one had a phony driver's license. In all, they had 11 credit cards in five different names, Secret Service Agent Patrick Pavich testified Monday.
The Secret Service has jurisdiction to investigate counterfeit credit card cases as well as counterfeit money.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Peters said Lee and Lam would throw a card away after making a number of purchases with it in one day.
"We don't know how they got the numbers or where they produced the cards," she said.
The pair, believed to be part of a bigger ring, also hit stores in Raleigh, Burlington and Greensboro, N.C.. Hecht's as well as Leggett was defrauded.
As part of their plea agreements, Lee and Lam agreed to pay $22,711 in restitution.
They will be sentenced in May.
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