Citrus Heights Couple Sentenced for ID & Mail Theft

A Citrus Heights couple was sentenced today for identify theft, possession of stolen mail and credit card fraud, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. 

From the U.S. Department of Justice:

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Today, United States District Judge John A. Mendez sentenced Citrus Heights residents Matthew Ray Ausborn, 33, and Christina Leanne Barrios, 29, for ID theft, credit card fraud, and three counts of possession of stolen U.S. Mail, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.

Ausborn was sentenced to three years and one month in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, and Barrios was sentenced to two years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release. A restitution hearing has been scheduled for June 4, 2013 before Judge Mendez.

This case was the product of an investigation by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, with the assistance of the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department. Assistant United States Attorney Michelle Rodriguez prosecuted the case.

According to court documents, on July 2, 2011, sheriff’s deputies found Ausborn and Barrios asleep inside an idling car on a residential street in Carmichael. The deputies arrested Barrios on an outstanding arrest warrant. Ausborn consented to a search of his vehicle. The search revealed a small amount of methamphetamine, approximately 400 pieces of stolen mail (involving more than 250 Sacramento County victims), multiple identification documents for other people, checks, financial documents, handwritten notes containing personal identifying information, a laptop computer, printer, and blank-check paper. Ausborn and Barrios were arrested on state drug and theft charges. While the federal investigation was pending, Ausborn and Barrios obtained bail and fled. Ausborn and Barrios then committed additional acts of theft and fraud along the Interstate 5 corridor in California and Oregon. They obtained stolen U.S. Mail, ID documents, and access devices.

On July 19, 2011, Ausborn and Barrios were arrested by local authorities in Lakeview, Ore., for vehicle theft and burglary charges. That same day, federal agents searched a storage unit in Sacramento that Ausborn rented and discovered more than 100 pieces of stolen mail (involving more than 70 additional Sacramento County victims), identification and financial documents, handwritten notes with identifying information, computers, and a scanner.