The “Father of Identity Theft” was sentenced to more than 17 years in federal prison Thursday after his conviction for identity theft last October.
At that time, a federal jury found James Jackson, 58, guilty of 13 counts of mail fraud, aggravated identity theft, access device fraud, and theft of mail, according to U.S. Attorney Michael Dunavant.
A week-long jury trial outlined Jackson’s efforts in 2014 and 2015 to steal the identities of victims — most of them dead — and steal money from banks, financial companies, and individuals.
Jackson would scour online obituaries and news articles to find people who had recently passed away. He’d then use that information to impersonate the victim and convince banks and other companies to send him new debit and credit cards, according to Dunavant.
Jackson had recruited another person to withdraw funds from the victim accounts and to purchase gift cards. In one instance, Jackson’s scheme caused the sale of $340,000 from one victim’s stock account.
Jackson’s scheme began to unravel in February 2015 when he called the Cordova Post Office claiming to be Charles Fulks. He was inquiring about a credit card package that should have been delivered that day to 10022 Cameron Ridge Trail.
But United States Postal Inspectors and members of the Tennessee Highway Patrol Identity Crimes Unit knew this was the work of an imposter. They discovered Fulks died before the call came in to the post office. Also, they discovered the address was a vacant house at the time.
Agents watched the vacant house and after 12 hours they saw Jackson walk across the street to get the credit card package from the mailbox and walk back to his house. They later saw smoke coming out of Jackson’s home.
No one answered the door when the agents announced their presence. Once inside, they found that several small fires had been set around the house “in what appeared to be an attempt to destroy evidence,” according to officials. They also discovered Jackson “pretending to be asleep.”
A search of Jackson’s home yielded a guide entitled “How to Find Anyone and Anything.” A look through Jackson’s computers found searches of obituaries and news articles of the recently deceased.
In a search of Jackson’s mother’s home, agents found a box of Jackson’s business cards. On them, Jackson claimed to be the “Father of Identity Theft,” “Member of World Positive Thinker’s Club,” and “identity theft expert.” The card also supposed Jackson to be the owner of a company called ”One You Security,” with the slogan “because there should only be one you.”
In August 2018, Jackson was arrested again in Charlotte, North Carolina. He was attempting to purchase a $43,000 Corvette using the name and personal information of a recently deceased person.
After a jury convicted him last year, Jackson faced up to 30 years in prison. On Wednesday, he received a sentence of 17.25 years and five years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay more than $300,000 in restitution.
“This self-proclaimed ‘Father of Identity Theft’ will now have to change his name to ‘Father Time,’ because he will be doing plenty of it in federal prison,” said Dunavant.