Sean Matthew Langston, Jr., of Columbus, Ohio, was sentenced on April 15 to 16 months in federal prison for illegally possessing credit card encoding devices.
The sentencing follows a case involving the illegal use of device-making equipment intended for fraud. Such cases highlight ongoing concerns about financial crimes and the importance of coordinated law enforcement efforts.
Court documents show that Langston, age 33, was arrested in Rankin County after a traffic stop on April 28, 2024. During the stop, officers found him and his co-defendant John Carleton Johnson, Jr., with approximately 322 gift cards, seventeen reencoded instruments containing stolen bank card data, and two magstripe encoding devices. Surveillance footage showed both men at retail stores in the Jackson area buying gift cards with cloned instruments.
A federal grand jury indicted Langston and Johnson on February 20, 2025. Langston pleaded guilty to one count of illegal possession, production or trafficking in device-making equipment with intent to defraud on December 11, 2025. Johnson pleaded guilty to the same charge earlier and received a sentence of 24 months’ imprisonment on November 3, 2025. Both were ordered to pay fines.
United States Attorney Baxter Kruger for the Southern District of Mississippi announced the sentencing along with U.S. Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Patrick Glaze and Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch. The investigation was conducted by the United States Secret Service and other agencies through their Cyber Fraud Task Force partnership.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly T. Purdie prosecuted the case.
