South L.A. man sentenced to 90 months in identity theft scheme
Sedrick Bagby
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—A South Los Angeles man was sentenced to 90 months in federal prison for his role in an international identity theft and credit card fraud scheme targeting elderly cardholders, prosecutors said today.
Sedrick Bagby, 36, was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer, who also ordered Bagby to pay about $288,000 in restitution, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Bagby pleaded guilty in June to a single count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, officials said.
As part of the scheme, British members of the fraud scheme impersonated the typically elderly cardholders and asked the credit card company to send replacement cards to Southland mail drops, prosecutors said.
The callers would claim to be on vacation in Southern California and planned to make large purchases while there, evidence showed.
Armed with fake driver's licenses that matched victim identities, Bagby and associates used the credit cards to attempt to purchase more than $250,000 in Rolex watches and other items at high-end retailers, including Louis Vuitton, Gearys Beverly Hills and Ben Bridge Jeweler, federal prosecutors said.
Another member of the conspiracy, Doren Harold Ward, 37, was convicted following a four-day trial in July of six felony counts, including conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, credit card fraud and aggravated identity theft. He is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 22.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Los Angeles County probation officers asked for help today in finding a parolee who threatened to kill school children.
Frank Edward Edmonds, 40, who authorities consider “extremely violent and an imminent public threat,” may be in Compton, South Los Angeles or Inglewood, his last known address.
The Crenshaw Subway Coalition is gearing up for a possible showdown over additional funding for the Crenshaw-to-LAX light rail line, including a Leimert Park Village Station, but may have to await a May 23 decision by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board on just how bruising—or necessary—a showdown will be.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Authorities have identified a man who was found fatally shot in an alley in an unincorporated area abutting South Los Angeles.
The man identified by the coroner’s office as Richard Backner, 23, of Los Angeles, was discovered in the 9400 block of Normandie Avenue in Westmont at 7:36 p.m. Sunday, and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Deputy Mark Pope of the sheriff’s headquarters bureau.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Police investigated a hit-and-run crash that slightly injured a 4-year-old child in South Los Angeles.
The crash at 711 W. 82nd Street was reported at 4:12 p.m. Thursday, according to Detective Gus Villanueva of the Los Angeles Police Department's Media Relations Section.
The child suffered elbow abrasions, said a lieutenant at the LAPD's South Traffic Division. Police were looking for a dark Lincoln.
COMPTON, Calif.—A 35-year-old man was charged today with murdering a 17-year-old girl whose burning body was found in a South Los Angeles street, and with assaulting and raping a woman in 2007.
Damond Williams was arrested Thursday in connection with the Sept. 17 death of the teen, whose body was found on Grand Avenue just north of 94th Street, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
