June 3, 09

NEWS / Man Who Operated Credit Card Fraud Schemes Sentenced to Nearly Five Years in Federal Prison

Nora R. Dannehy, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that RANDY BAADHIO, 43, formerly of Stamford, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant in Hartford to 57 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for credit card fraud. BAADHIO pleaded guilty to the offense on January 30, 2009.

According to documents filed with the Court and statements made in court, BAADHIO took names and Social Security account numbers of his victims from the Internet site “thevirginiawatchdog.com,” and used the information to obtain American Express credit cards. BAADHIO incurred at least $142,423 in unauthorized charges on those credit cards.

This is BAADHIO’s fourth conviction related to the fraudulent use of credit cards, including a 2002 federal conviction in the Northern District of California. The most recent criminal conduct occurred after BAADHIO had escaped from a halfway house in New Jersey following a 2005 state conviction for theft of services and fraudulent use of a credit card.

BAADHIO has been detained since his arrest on June 15, 2007. While incarcerated in federal custody, BAADHIO provided false information to the Federal Bureau of Investigation concerning a potential terrorist threat. The threats were treated seriously due to BAADHIO’s background in physics.

Today, as part of his sentence, Judge Bryant ordered BAADHIO to pay restitution in the amount of $138,769.95.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Connecticut Computer Crimes Task Force. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Edward Chang.

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