Defendant guilty of scamming businesses

A Washington man was found guilty Friday of bilking several businesses out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by tapping into their bank accounts to continuously reload pre-paid gift cards.

Lonnie Lillard and two co-conspirators set up shop in a room at the Treasure Island hotel-casino and, using a laptop computer, a magnetic strip reader and a credit card terminal, mimicked the sounds of businesses' electronic serial numbers and merchant identification codes to transfer funds.

During a five-day stay at the hotel, the men executed 403 wire transfers or payments totaling about $675,000, according to an indictment issued in 2006.

Lillard, Byron Brown and Dennis Bryant disguised the transfers as merchandise refunds that were credited back to the cards.

"In truth and in fact, the conspirators were not authorized to use the access devices, and the purported refunds were entirely fictional and were unrelated to any actual purchase or return of merchandise," the indictment says.

Bryant and Brown entered plea agreements with the federal government. Lillard was convicted by a jury after a four-day trial this week.

The businesses affected by the scam were Fiesta Mexicana in Fresno, Calif.; Over the Top Motorsports in Knoxville, Tenn.; Defries Chiropractic Center in Aston, Pa.; and Super Value B in Middletown, Conn.

The men were captured by the Secret Service after Bill Cline, an employee with the credit card processing company Chase Paymentech Solution LLC reported the unusual transactions.

"Mr. Kline said these transactions were fraudulent as they had no offsetting transactions and were not supported by or linked to any corresponding purchase," according to Brown's plea agreement.

Kline also reported that illegal transactions originated from Treasure Island's main phone number.

Lillard is scheduled to be sentenced April 14.