Man sentenced in Wal-Mart check scam targeting hundreds
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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."
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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.