Secret Service arrests 7 under Operation Rolling Stone

 
Benjamin W. Pinkston, a Virginia Tech student, was arrested Tuesday as part of a national undercover Secret Service operation targeting online fraud and identity theft, officials said.

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The Secret Service yesterday announced seven arrests in five states and the District of Columbia as part of a continuing crackdown on online forums where credit card data and other stolen consumer information is routinely traded.

Most of the arrests stem from suspects illegally obtaining personal information in order to commit credit card fraud; others are from a recent spate of debit card and personal identification number compromises across the country.

According to a news release from the Secret Service in Washington, D.C., the undercover operation has resulted in 21 arrests across the country in the past three months.

The arrests yesterday were made in Florida, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, California and Washington on a variety of state and federal charges related to online identity theft, credit card and access device fraud, said Jonathan Cherry, a spokesman for the Secret Service.

Pinkston appeared Tuesday before a U.S. magistrate judge in Roanoke on an arrest warrant issued in the Western District of New York, reports The Roanoke Times.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany Lee in Rochester, N.Y., said Pinkston is charged with "various crimes involving online identity theft" such as conspiracy and the illegal possession of identification documents.

Heidi Coy, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Roanoke, said Pinkston will be prosecuted in New York. According to the Secret Service, some other defendants will be prosecuted in Nashville, Tenn., and Los Angeles.

Pinkston was released to the custody of his parents Tuesday and warned not to break any laws, contact associates in the alleged scheme or use the Internet and e-mail. When he asked how he would complete homework assignments without those tools, a judge gave him permission to only use his Virginia Tech e-mail account and a university Web site.

 
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