Credit scam nets 12 years

A federal judge yesterday sentenced a Strawberry Mansion man to 12 years behind bars for credit-card and identity fraud.

Gregory Jones, 44, aka "G," was also ordered by U.S. District Judge Eduardo C. Robreno to make restitution of $288,687 to American Express, $16,278 to GE Money Bank and $6,609 to Discover.

Jones, who has been in federal custody since December 2006, pleaded guilty in March 2007 and admitted to running a plant where he made fake ID and credit cards.

Federal agents executed a search warrant in May 2006 at Girard Avenue near 42nd Street and found Jones alone in a one-room apartment with a credit-card machine producing counterfeit credit cards, court papers said.

Authorities said Jones also possessed hundreds of stolen identities, several thousand stolen, unauthorized and counterfeit debit and credit cards, and more than 100 unauthorized credit and debit card numbers.

Defense attorney Jerry Goldman said he plans to appeal the sentence.

Goldman said that Robreno erred by finding that Jones, after pleading guilty and while awaiting sentencing, had obstructed justice and had not taken responsibility for his crimes, thereby increasing his guideline-range sentence. *