Arlington Coffee Shop Owner Sentenced To 10 Years For Credit Card Fraud Scheme

ARLINGTON, VA — The former owner of an Arlington coffee shop was sentenced to 10 years in prison for her role in a scheme to create fraudulent credit cards using stolen identities, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.

Adiam Berhane, 50, who owned Caffe Aficionado on N. Lynne Street in the Rosslyn neighborhood of Arlington, defrauded residents from at least 2013 to 2016, stealing their identities and using them to purchase gift cards and expensive luxury items from local retail stores, according to court records.

The fraud caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses to area retailers and financial institutions, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia said.

Following a December 2022 jury trial, Berhane of Washington, D.C., was convicted of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, trafficking in unauthorized access devices, aggravated identity theft, unlawful possession of 15 or more access devices, and possession of access device-making equipment with intent to defraud.

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According to court documents, Berhane conspired to carry out the scheme with Tiffany Younger, 51, of Washington, D.C. and Keith Lemons, 56, of Clinton, Maryland involving stolen credit card information. Lemons and Younger previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

Berhane would obtain stolen identities for the creation of fraudulent credit cards, according to prosecutors. Credit card manufacturing equipment used to make fake credit cards was found by investigators in the apartment that Berhane shared with the unnamed co-conspirator, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

More than a third of Caffe Aficionado’s income from June 2013 to July 2016 “came from a pattern of highly unusual redemptions of American Express gift cards, with the pattern beginning several months before Caffe Aficionado actually opened in approximately October 2013,” the U.S. attorney’s office said.

In October 2016, Caffe Aficionado closed following a police raid. Arlington County Police said at the time that Berhane was involved in a scheme to profit from fraudulent credit cards. She and her business partner, Clark Donat, were both arrested and charged with money laundering and conspiracy to commit credit card fraud, ARLnow reported.

On March 15, Berhane was sentenced to 10 years in prison by Senior U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga, while Lemons was sentenced to time served and six months of home confinement for his role.

On Wednesday, Younger was sentenced to two years of probation, according to the U.S. attorney's office.