Austell Woman Convicted for ‘Sophisticated Forgery Scheme’

From the Cobb District Attorney's office:

An Austell woman has been convicted of six counts of identity fraud and four counts of financial transaction card fraud in a case the prosecutor called “a window into a larger and more sophisticated forgery scheme,” according to District Attorney Vic Reynolds. 

Jurors took 20 minutes on Wednesday to convict Miesha Sanyell Hunter, a.k.a Miesha Sanyell Perdue, 31, of all counts. Co-defendant Alphonsus Idiku, 35, of Kennesaw, was convicted of the same charges on Oct. 23 and is currently serving a six-year prison sentence, after which he will be deported to Nigeria. 

At trial, Assistant District Attorney Hannah Palmquist showed video of Hunter and Idiku using cloned credit cards at Target and Walmart stores in Cobb, Douglas and Fulton counties in May 2012. The cloned cards had Idiku’s name on the front, but the charges were billed to accounts of several victims, including a Smyrna resident.

Smyrna Police Detective K. Spencer arrested Idiku and worked to identify Hunter, who was seen with Idiku on store security video. Neither of the defendants testified during the trials.

“To this day, we don’t know how they got the victims’ information. The victims’ cards never left their wallets,” Palmquist said.

Superior Court Judge James G. Bodiford set Hunter’s sentencing for 10:30 a.m. on Dec. 19. Palmquist intends to ask that Hunter be sentenced to 15 years, with six years to serve and the rest on probation.

The trial began Monday with jury selection. Hunter is represented by attorney Drew Bishop of Woodstock.