Two Women Get a Slap On The Wrist for Credit Card Skimming

Two women have been given probation and hit with a minor fine for their role in a credit card skimming scam. The two worked at a steakhouse in Alton, Illinois where the scheme gained traction, but were given the lighter sentences for their passive roles. The mastermind behind the operation, a “romantic partner” to one of the women, was sentenced to 57 months in prison last summer.

Jamie Lynn Erwin, 32, and Shadwonna Marie Bausily, 22, both from Illinois, were sentenced on Monday for their part in a credit card skimming scam.

Bausily had previously admitted that in 2010 while working as a hostess at Amarillo Tex’s Steakhouse and Saloon, a man with whom she had a romantic relationship, Miltiano Johnson, taught her to use a credit card skimmer, and recruited Bausily to help him gather credit card information from customers at the steakhouse.

Erwin, who had previously pled guilty, admitted that she was working as a waitress at the steakhouse when Bausily approached her about helping Johnson and her skim credit cards. Johnson and Bausily offered to pay Erwin to run customers’ cards through the skimmer when she took payments from them and then to return the skimmer full of credit card information to Johnson.

Miltiano Johnson was sentenced to 57 months in prison on July 8, 2011, his partner, Michael Montgomery, was sentenced to a year in prison.

Shadwonna Bausily was sentenced to a three-year term of probation and was ordered to pay restitution and a $100 “special assessment”. Jamie Erwin was sentenced to a five-year term of probation for her role and was ordered to pay restitution and a $100 special assessment.