Two men have plead guilty and a third man is expected to
plead guilty to stealing credit and debit card data using devices
at Stop & Shop supermarket checkout counters. A case is pending
against a fourth man in connection with the theft.
Arman Ter-Esayan and Gevork Baltadjian pleaded guilty to federal
charges of aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to traffic in
unauthorised access devices. A third suspect, Arutyun Shatarevyan
has also agreed to plead guilty, according to an Associated Press
report. The
Rhode Island State Police published photos
of the men allegedly entering the supermarket to retrieve the
devices.
The men face a maximum sentence of five years for the conspiracy
charges and identity theft carries up to two years in prison.
Quincy, Massachusetts-based supermarket chain
Stop & Shop acknowledged in February
that thieves stole account and personal identification numbers
from customers' credit and debit cards at two Rhode Island
locations by tampering with checkout-lane computers.
Customer information was stolen from Stop & Shop stores in
Coventry and in Cranston, and there's suspicion that stores in
Bristol, Providence, Warwick, and Seekonk were affected, according
to an announcement on its Web site. There's no evidence yet of
fraudulent debit or credit card activity in connection with the
security breach.
It is unclear how many customers were affected by the thefts and
whether there has been any fraudulent activity connected to the
stolen data.