BRUNSWICK, Ga. (WRBL) — A Canton, Georgia man was sentenced to 34 months in prison after pleading guilty to ‘Possession with Intent to Use Five or More False Identification Documents’, according to David H. Estes, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia.
Kenson Hunte, 39, is one of four people who have pled guilty in the case. Sheryl Henderson, 39, Norcross, Georgia; Colby Hart, 27, Vidalia, Georgia; and Monique Laing, 23, Atlanta, Georgia, have all entered guilty pleas regarding their involvement in the scheme.
Hunte was riding in a vehicle with the three other co-defendants on State Road 27 in Glynn County on March 6, 2019 when a Georgia State Patrol trooper pulled them over for speeding. Upon searching the vehicle, troopers found 44 fake driver’s licenses and identification cards issued from various different states, with personal information from other people.
According to court documents, Hunte and a co-conspirator used the fake identification cards to buy cellphones and network contracts through a third-party retailer in a Wal-Mart store in Homewood, Alabama. Hunte fraudulently bought around 127 phones, paying only a small percentage for the phones up-front.
Hunte profited in the black market sale of those phones, creating a total of $104,347.16 in loss, which Hunte will be required to pay in restitution. He will also be required to serve three years of supervised release after completing his sentence.
Estes states that the substantial restitution will hold Hunte accountable.
“Hunte led his codefendants into a theft and fraud scheme for no purposes other than to enrich themselves at the expense of innocent victims.” said Estes. “Prison time and the payment of substantial restitution will help hold him accountable for his crimes.”
This case was investigated by the FBI, the U.S. Secret Service, and the Georgia State Patrol, with assistance from the Brunswick Police Department and the Glynn County Sheriff’s Office, and prosecuted for the United States by Southern District of Georgia Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Bearden and Northern District of Alabama Assistant U.S. Attorney Robin B. Mark.