A federal judge in East St. Louis sentenced three men to prison this week for their involvement in a scheme to use counterfeit credit and debit cards to fill up tanks for gas station patrons in exchange for cash – including incidents at a Columbia gas station more than five years ago.

The U.S. Department of Justice said Dee E. Day, 31, of Belleville, was sentenced Monday to 30 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $14,295 in restitution. Marquise Q. Golliday, 29, of Collinsville, and Montuelle F. Wright, 33, of East St. Louis, were each previously sentenced to 28 months in prison.

Day, Golliday and Wright each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, access device fraud and aggravated identity theft.

“Financial exploitation and identity theft crimes are serious offenses with lasting effects on victims, but thankfully, our law enforcement partners worked swiftly to disband this criminal ring,” said U.S. Attorney Rachelle Aud Crowe. 

According to court documents, the conspirators had counterfeit credit and debit cards with one set of information on the front, but the routing information was electronically modified and re-encoded on the cards’ magnetic strip. The encoded data included the victims’ names and card numbers.

The U.S. Secret Service led the investigation, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Reed prosecuted the case.

“Financial crimes perpetrated on law-abiding citizens often have lasting effects on unknowing victims. The U.S. Secret Service is dedicated to stopping and deterring such crimes to safeguard our nation’s financial security as well as innocent people,” said Special Agent in Charge Dai Tran of the Chicago Field Office. “I’m proud of our agency’s work on this case and I’m thankful to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for pursuing it.”

The trio used the modified cards to charge more than 130 fraudulent transactions on accounts belonging to 34 victims totaling more than $14,000. Seven re-encoded bank cards and a Visa gift card were recovered from the men upon their arrest.

Most of the fraud was committed at a Sauget gas station from Nov. 1-5, 2019. Similar conduct was reported at gas stations in Columbia and Fairview Heights in Illinois and Valley Park, Mo. 

Per the Department of Justice, the incidents in Columbia took place Nov. 8-9, 2019, at MotoMart, 286 Southwoods Drive.

Columbia Police Chief Jason Donjon said on Nov. 9, 2019, his department arrested four men for using fraudulent cards to purchase gas at MotoMart. Donjon was unaware of how the Secret Service investigation had played out to involve the three men sentenced this week, but did recount there were also several thefts from vehicles early the morning of Nov. 1, 2019, on North Goodhaven and Hillcrest Drive in Columbia.

“We pursued a black Chevy Traverse that we believe was (a) suspect vehicle, but it got away,” Donjon said of those incidents.

Credit and debit cards were among the items reported stolen from the vehicles in those thefts, Donjon said.