More than 19 defendants have either pleaded or been sentenced in a years-long credit card fraud case that
included incidents in Wood and Lucas Counties.
The matter had been pending in Wood County Court of Common Pleas.
The case, largely involving pattern of corrupt activity charges, stretched back to 2011 and included
approximately 47 documented incidents. The pattern reportedly spread to other areas including Lima,
Piqua, and Columbus, as well as into Michigan and Indiana.
Most recently, Otha Randall Sr., 49, Toledo, was sentenced Tuesday to three years in prison and ordered
to make a restitution of more than $81,000 to be paid jointly and severally with the other defendants.
He pleaded guilty in May to one count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity with specification, a
first-degree felony.
In the indictment, Randall is noted as being involved personally in illegally obtaining credit card
numbers, which were later fraudulently used.
His son, Otha Randall Jr., 19, Toledo, was among those also indicted in the case. The younger Randall
pleaded last month to an amended charge of second-degree engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity. He
is to be sentenced Sept. 17. A handful of other defendants in the case are also set to be sentenced.
Most of the criminal activity involved "skimming" credit cards which had been used legitimately
at a Taco Bell in Maumee, as well as at the Toledo Zoo. Through "skimming," credit card
information was procured during a regular transaction without the knowledge of the cardholder. The
details are then used fraudulently to make purchases via cloned credit cards.
The crimes also involved retail fraud and retail theft, often including items from construction-related
stores. Items stolen from stores were then returned without a receipt to obtain gift cards.
The cases were the culmination of work by Perrysburg Township Police with the help of the U.S. Marshal
Northern Ohio Fugitive Task Force and Perrysburg City Police, Holland Police, Maumee Police, Sylvania
Police, and the U.S. Secret Service.