2 men draw terms in ID-theft scheme

Two men have been sentenced in U.S. District Court for their roles in a mail fraud and identity theft scheme in Magnolia.

Patrick Wayne Watson, 24, of Conway, was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release, both on one count of mail fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Kennan Dane O’Bier, 24, of Nash, Texas, was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release.

They were each ordered to pay $200 in special assessments and to pay restitution in the amount of $42,113.12.

Chief U.S. District Judge Susan Hickey of the Western District of Arkansas presided over the sentencing hearing in the federal courthouse in El Dorado.

From August 2018 to January 2019, Watson — who worked at a Magnolia bank — used his job to review personally identifiable information and customers’ banking information, according to court records and information from the office of David Clay Fowlkes, acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of

Arkansas.

Watson took photographs of personally identifying information of more than 100 bank customers on his cellular phone, according to the prosecutor’s office. Watson and O’Bier used at least six of those customers’ information to open PayPal, Amazon and Wayfair accounts in the names of the bank customers.

Fowlkes’ office said that Watson and O’Bier then used those accounts to order thousands of dollars in products from Amazon and Wayfair and had them delivered to multiple addresses, including their home in Magnolia.

On April 23, 2019, the FBI obtained a federal search warrant on their Magnolia home. Many of the shipped items were found, as well as additional evidence. A search of Watson’s cellphone resulted in the discovery of the photographs of additional bank customers’ information which were not, to date, used in the scheme.

Watson and O’Bier were indicted in August 2019. Watson entered a plea to mail fraud and aggravated identity theft charges on June 22, 2020. O’Bier entered a plea to mail fraud and aggravated identity theft on July 20, 2020.