An Overland Park, Kan., man pleaded guilty Monday to using a device called a credit card skimmer to steal credit card numbers, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said.
Yao Vignon Kpade, 32, Overland Park, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of electronic access device fraud. In his plea, he admitted he was working at a Taco Bell in Belton, Mo., when he used the skimmer to obtain information from customers’ credit cards. He encoded the stolen information onto bank cards issued in his name and used those credit cards to purchase items such as iPads.
He used stolen information to make purchases at the Walmart in Overland Park, Kan.; Ranchmart Wine and Spirits in Leawood, Kan.; Walgreens in Prairie Village, Kan.; Walgreens in Overland Park, Kan.; Hy-Vee in Shawnee, Kan.; and Walmart in Shawnee, Kan. In his plea, he agreed to pay a total of more than $2,465 in restitution to two banks and to forfeit seized property including computers, electronic tablets and cell phones.
Sentencing is set for March 2. He faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in federal prison. Grissom commended the U.S. Secret Service, the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office, the Cass County (Mo.) District Attorney’s Office, the Shawnee Police Department, the Overland Park Police Department, the Leawood Police Department, DHS, Homeland Security Investigations and Assistant U.S. Attorney Tanya Treadway for their work on the case.