Manteca man convicted of fraud scheme stole identities, including his landlord's

A 38-year-old Manteca man on Friday was sentenced to six years and three months in federal prison for stealing identities, including his landlord’s information, to fraudulently obtain lines of credit.

Matthew Gene Ballard on Feb. 10 pleaded guilty to executing a bank fraud and identity theft scheme. His prison sentence last week also included time for numerous violations of his supervised release for a prior conviction, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento announced Monday.

Ballard was released on March 27, 2015, after serving three years in federal prison for similar identity theft offenses.

While he was on supervised release between July 2015 and April 2016, Ballard obtained stolen mail and property with the help of others, according to federal prosecutors.

The prosecutors said Ballard used the identifying information from the stolen mail and property to make fake identities. Then, he obtained the lines of credit to get cash and merchandise at the expense of banks and merchants.

As part of his scheme, Ballard stole his landlord’s identity and used unauthorized credit cards to pay for personal expenses, the prosecutors said.

This story was originally published September 11, 2017 at 1:57 PM with the headline "Manteca man convicted of fraud scheme stole identities, including his landlord's."