An Ohio resident has admitted to illegally possessing equipment used for making fraudulent credit cards, according to federal authorities. Sean Matthew Langston, Jr., 33, of Columbus, was arrested on April 28, 2024, in Rankin County after a traffic stop. During the stop, law enforcement found Langston and his co-defendant, John Carleton Johnson, Jr., with about 322 gift cards, seventeen reencoded devices containing stolen bank card data, and two magnetic stripe encoding machines. Surveillance footage showed both men using cloned cards at retail stores in the Jackson area to buy gift cards.
Langston pleaded guilty to one count related to illegal possession and production or trafficking of device-making equipment with intent to defraud. He is scheduled for sentencing on April 14, 2026. He could face up to 15 years in federal prison. Sentencing will be determined by a federal district court judge who will consider the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
A federal grand jury indicted both Langston and Johnson on February 20, 2025. Johnson pleaded guilty earlier this year and received a sentence of two years in federal prison along with a $5,000 fine.
“United States Attorney Baxter Kruger of the Southern District of Mississippi, U.S. Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Patrick Davis, and Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch made the announcement.”
The investigation is being conducted by the United States Secret Service, Mississippi Attorney General’s Office, and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation as part of their Cyber Fraud Task Force partnership. The Mississippi Highway Patrol and Flowood Police Department also assisted.
“Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly T. Purdie is prosecuting the case.”
