PITTSBURGH – A man who cashed $300,000 worth of counterfeit checks created using personal information he stole by peeking over Wal-Mart customers' shoulders has been sentenced to 34 months in prison.
Thirty-five-year-old Robert MacVittie and his wife, Jennifer, pleaded guilty in September to a scheme known as "shoulder surfing." Federal prosecutors say the couple used cellphones to take images of people's personal and banking information over their shoulders.
At Robert MacVittie's sentencing Thursday, a prosecutor called the couple "the Bonnie and Clyde of counterfeit checks."
The two used the information to cash counterfeit checks in Pennsylvania and several other states between October 2013 and May. They also failed to cash another $700,000 in bogus checks. In all, 900 people's identity information was stolen or compromised.
Jennifer MacVittie will be sentenced next month.
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