BUFFALO, N.Y. (WNY News Now)- Two Buffalo men are facing a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison on charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
Cross Malik Williams, 25, of Cheektowaga, NY, and Kingsley Brown, 21, of North Tonawanda, NY were arrested and charged by criminal complaint with conspiracy to commit bank fraud after being linked to hundreds of fraudulent charges.
In March 2023, the FBI’s Buffalo Field Office received a report that the credit card of a man living in the Catskills Mountains area was used to purchase gas at a retail business in Buffalo. Subsequently, by early February, three more individuals reported similar incidents at the same retail business. The retail business also received information from Chase Bank that a large number of disputed charges and chargebacks had been received since November 2022 involving gas purchases at the business.
Subsequent investigation traced the illegal purchases to three individuals, including defendants Williams and Brown. Following a review of surveillance footage between February 14 and February 22, 2023 at the multiple locations where the thefts occurred, the FBI identified over 200 instances of gas theft by the defendants. Investigators identified 24 occasions between April 24 and May 21 that Williams was in close proximity to locations of the impacted retail business. A review of over 100 hours of surveillance footage identified approximately 453 instances of gas theft. In addition, the retail business identified a total of $169,948.20 in gas chargebacks between April 2022, and April 2023.
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