Secret Service Informant Turns into Identity Thief: The Brett Shannon Johnson Story
The United States Secret Service has witnessed yet another informant turned criminal. Convicted of credit card and identity theft, Brett Shannon Johnson is now facing six years and three months imprisonment and paying at least $300,000 in restitution.
Choosing between weekly salaries of $350 from the Secret Service compared to making at least $5,000 per week betraying his duties by commiting tax-refund scams was not a difficult choice for Brett Johnson to make. While working undercover for ten months with the Secret Service and earning his $350 by tipping the Columbia, South Carolina office of the agency to credit card thieves, Johnson was at the same time operating a tax-refund scam under the name of Gollumfun.
Johnson started his ten-month working relationship with the Secret Service when he was captured in 2005 as one of the administrators of an illegal cyber operation web discussion forum called Shadowcrew.com. Instead of facing multiple charges and a significantly longer sentence, he was asked to track down other online carding forums as federal undercover informant. The federal government enlisting captured criminals to help investigations is an action that is not uncommon to law enforcers – the use of criminals as informants have been considered to be a necessity to some investigations.
He started working three months after his arrest on a dubbed “Operation Anglerpish” and was even supplied with an apartment, where his girlfriend stayed with him, plus a daily allowance of $50. While Johnson claimed that he started scheming while under agency supervision, that claim was refuted by the South Carolina division’s special agent in-charge Neal Dolan as two agents were monitored to be with him during office hours. However, Dolan admitted that they were not required to monitor Johnson outside of these hours, in which times the informant used all the data obtained from the agency’s database to assist his illegal operations while not under agency watch.
Even with video surveillance and two agents monitoring him during the six hours a day, six days a week work, Johnson still found enough time to procure all the information he needed for brewing up his new business.
“As time went on, it became more apparent to me that I had a good chance of not getting caught,” said Johnson.
According to a statement from Brett Shannon Johnson, the names and credit card numbers he used for his fraudulent tax-return scam was acquired on the same laptop that he had access to the information inside the office. These actions by Johnson were unnoticed by the agents monitoring him as he threw them off by asking them to monitor audit trails that he asked them to do. Once he was alone, he would research the information he needed for his scam.
“There were two agents with him at all times, and we had a 42-inch plasma (monitor) that projected everything he did on it,” says Neal Dolan. “You’d have to have been asleep not to have seen what he was doing (if he were committing crimes) – and they weren’t. This wasn’t a mafia case where we were going to sit on this guy 24 hours a day. He was told we’d make spot checks on him. But he’s an adult. I told him, if you want to go back to jail then you know what path (to take), and that’s the path he took.”
Johnson’s next step was to purchase several computers and IP addresses in order to not be traced, and file for tax returns using other people’s names and identification. This contributed significantly to the grand total of $2 million dollars he earned over a five-year illegal money-making career. While working as an informant to find illegal activities in cyber crime websites and then reveal them to the government, Johnson managed to put up two of his own illegal websites – CardersMarket and ScandinavianCarding.
Johnson’s case has proved to be fodder for many critics of using convicted offenders as informants and on top of this, paying them a stipend. It has also raised many questions as to the proper monitoring and surveillance allotted to these informants. Dolan reasons out that while these informants may have been given a chance to make up for their crimes, the decision to continue doing so or returning to the path of crime is theirs to make. Johnson himself says that putting him in that situation was like “taking an unrehabilitated crack or heroin addict and placing him in a drug environment, telling him not to use drugs.”
“I would place myself in the top five or 10 for doing what I do. Hopefully, I can find a way to make it benefit people instead of hurting them,” says Johnson. “And yeah, I’m sorry for what I’ve done.”
Unfortunately, it is virtually impossible to have any raw statistics of how prevalent these infomants-turned-rogues scenarios are. Most of these cases are under strict confidentiality, thus only a small number of cases reach the media’s attention.
10 Ways to Ensure Success in Law School
If you’re considering entering law school or already a new student the intimidation factor can be overwhelming. Anyone who has gone through the rigors of a three-year law school program will tell you it gets less threatening as you advance. In order to get through these three years you’re going to need a lot of help. Here are some tips for you to consider as you begin your journey:
- Stay on top of your reading assignments. The workload will be unlike any you have encountered in the past and it’s imperative you do all the assigned readings. It is helpful to refresh with the readings just before you attend class.
- Speak up. Class participation is not usually factored into your grades so don’t be afraid to jump into a class discussion. It’s your chance to either strut your stuff or to clarify ambiguities you’ve encountered in the course materials.
- Go to class. Even if your professor doesn’t take attendance you should make every effort to make it to class. There are sure to be times when you haven’t done the reading and you feel like taking the easy way out. Avoid this urge and still go to class, at least this way you can hear what the professor feels is most important about a particular case.
- Listen to your professor. Only take notes of what the professor says. He or she is the one paid to present the material. Certainly listen to your classmates but don’t take their points and opinions as Gospel.
- Reflect on your notes at the end of each day. Take a close look at the notes you took earlier in the day in class when you get home. This will allow you to soak up and reinforce the day’s message. Repeat this process at the end of each week.
- Learn the rules. It may sound redundant, but you’re in law school so you should learn to accurately explain legal rules.
- Worry about the context. Classes are intended to revolve around discussions to reach a conclusion. Don’t be concerned with knowing the right answer right away – this isn’t the aim of a discussion.
- Find a comfortable seat in class. If you’re taking notes the old-fashioned way with a pen and a pad then avoid the guy pounding away on his laptop.
- Quality, not quantity. Put in valuable time, not just hours upon hours for the sake of looking good. Only you will know the extent of your effort. Make sure the time you study is done wisely.
- Classes are difficult. Accept the struggle that is going to accompany your journey. If one class session has you feeling lost, try to master the material in your own time and be prepared for the next meeting.
Susan Jacobs is a freelance writer as well as a regular contributor for CollegeDegree.com, a site helping students select an online college degree. Susan invites your questions, comments and freelancing job inquiries at her email address susan.jacobs45@gmail.com.
Law School Archetypes: The Old Guy
From Mike:
“That Ol’
He must know somepin.’”
-Oscar Hammerstein “Old Man River”
Walk down the hall at your average law school and the scene will probably resemble a real life version of Saved By The Bell: People in their mid-twenties doing their best to portray high schoolers, with a couple of square middle aged men thrown in the mix. Only these middle aged men aren’t the Mr. Beldings of the law school world: They are students too. They are The Old Guy.
Old Guys enroll for many reasons: a desire for a career change, a mid-life crisis, or the hope that the grass is greener on this side of the law school fence. Whatever the reason, it is inevitable that your law school has at least a couple of Old Guys enrolled.
Spotting the Old Guy is easy: He’ll at least be in his mid-thirties, if not older; he’ll probably be a bit doughy; there is a good chance that he’ll sport a mustache and/or beard; and he’ll be just uncool enough to make you feel like you are taking class with your dad.
The Old Guy’s wardrobe can vary. Some Old Guys prefer to don the sensible worn Cotton Dockers and one-size-too-small polo shirt that they wore to work before coming to law school. Others try to fit in with their younger classmates, but miss the mark by wearing tapered jeans and tucking in their shirt a little too much. Yet others go the extra mile to dress the part, carefully imitating the fashions of the day. Sadly, these men don’t look hip; they look like they wore something out of their son’s closet.
Now, there is no problem with someone a bit older than the average law student wanting to improve himself. However, the Old Guy irks most of his younger counterparts by trying to assume a role of class expert. You see, the Old Guy may have his Bachelors in Engineering, but he definitely has his Ph.D in Life Experience. If something has happened, the he has done it, seen it, heard about it, or knew a guy who knew someone who was there. He also likes to speak up in class. For the Old Guy, no anecdote is too long and no legal theory is too off-base to keep to himself. To the Old Guy, the only thing sweeter than the self-satisfaction of going back to school is the sound of his own voice.
