Phila. woman gets 40 months in prison in credit-card scheme

A federal judge in Trenton on Friday sentenced a 34-year-old Philadelphia woman to 40 months in federal prison for her role in a massive credit-card fraud scheme, prosecutor said.

Vernina Adams, 34, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Anne E. Thompson to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. She was charged in 2013, and since then 18 others have pleaded guilty in connection with the conspiracy to fabricate more than 7,000 false identities and obtain tens of thousands of credit cards.

The scheme caused more than $200 million in confirmed losses from businesses and financial institutions, prosecutors said.

Adams also was sentenced to five years of supervised release after prison. - Robert Moran