Saihing Chan, 21, pleaded guilty to criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree and identity theft in the first degree, both felonies, in Albany County Court Tuesday, Jan. 13.
Chan, of Brooklyn, faces four to 12 years in state prison when sentenced March 3, according to county District Attorney David Soares.
On August 5, 2013, the Bethlehem police, U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, State Police, and other local law enforcement agencies executed a search warrant at the Golden Town Buffet in Bethlehem relating to an identity theft investigation.
Authorities arrested Heng Li, then 27, of Brooklyn, for using a credit card skimmer device to obtain identification information of 39 credit card numbers. Li and three other employees at the restaurant were under an active deportation order when the search warrant was executed.
Further investigation led authorities to other suspects involved in the identity theft scheme. Police said Chan, along with others, used stolen credit card numbers and identities to purchase thousands of dollars’ worth of merchandise.
Heng Li was sentenced to two years and four months to seven years in state prison on Dec. 11, 2013, after pleading guilty to criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree and scheme to defraud in the first degree, both felonies.
Another employee of the buffet, Pheng Sathongoth, then 42, of Manhattan, was sentenced on April 28 to two years and four months to seven years in state prison, along with being ordered to pay $4,549.64.
The only case still pending as of Wednesday, Jan. 14, was against codefendant Bao Hua Liu.
