Mother-son duo ran identity theft ring while road tripping in stolen U-Haul, feds say
When police officers in South Carolina first met Quinae Shamyra Stephens in the parking lot of a Family Dollar, she was driving a stolen U-Haul van with her 23-year-old son in tow and 9 mm handgun under the passenger seat, according to federal court documents.
Inside the van, prosecutors said, police found stock paper for printing checks, counterfeit driver’s licenses from four states as well as debit and credit cards with mismatched account numbers.
Now Stephens is facing more than 30 years behind bars.
A jury reached a guilty verdict on all counts against the 41-year-old on April 7 after prosecutors accused her and her son, Deandre Copes, of running a “multi-state identity theft and fraud ring” partially out of the stolen van. The verdict was reached at the end of a three-day jury trial — the first federal criminal jury trial held in the Pee Dee region since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina said in a news release.
The Pee Dee region encompasses about a dozen counties in northeast South Carolina, including the town of Latta in Dillon County, where Stephens and Copes first encountered law enforcement in the stolen van in August 2021.
Copes pleaded guilty to bank and wire fraud charges in February and is awaiting sentencing.
Public defenders and court-appointed attorneys representing the pair did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment on Thursday, April 14.
According to an affidavit filed with the criminal complaint, the Latta Police Department received a call about a suspicious vehicle in the parking lot of a local Family Dollar around 1 p.m. on Aug. 26. Prosecutors said the van had taken several trips back and forth between a bank and the Family Dollar.
When officers arrived, Stephens was behind the wheel with Copes in the passenger seat of the van, which police soon learned had been reported stolen in New Jersey, court documents state.
The mother and son were on a road trip from New Jersey to Florida at the time, the government said. Both are from Douglasville, Georgia, about 25 miles west of Atlanta.
Police searched the van, where investigators said they found the loaded handgun, five tablet pills of fentanyl and four packages of naloxone. They also found a printer and copier with blank check stock paper inside, a box of blank check stock paper, counterfeit and stolen driver’s licenses, counterfeit checks, debit and credit cards with differing account numbers and a card skimmer, court documents state.
Copes, when interviewed by federal investigators, said he knew his mom was involved in some financial crimes but denied his own involvement.
Prosecutors said the Secret Service looked into Stephens and discovered she had been downloading instructions from the dark web on how to commit credit card fraud and identity theft. She’s also accused of buying software on the dark web to gain access to personally identifiable information.
Stephens and Copes were charged by criminal complaint on Sept. 3. Court documents show a grand jury indicted them about three weeks later.
Prosecutors said Stephens’ trial included more than 120 exhibits entered into evidence and over a dozen witnesses and victims from California, Minnesota, New Jersey, Tennessee, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. The jury ultimately found her guilty on all six counts — including conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud, credit card fraud, identity theft, aggravated identity theft, interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle, and felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.
A sentencing date has not been set. Stephens faces up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine on the conspiracy charges as well as a mandatory two-year sentence on the aggravated identity theft charge.
This story was originally published April 14, 2022 at 1:42 PM with the headline "Mother-son duo ran identity theft ring while road tripping in stolen U-Haul, feds say."
