A 33-year-old Miami man has been sentenced to more than four years in federal prison for running what prosecutors described as a large-scale identity theft and fraud operation involving at least 450 victims.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, Mckenzie Levar Monestine was sentenced Friday to 55 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. He pleaded guilty in December 2025 to one count of possessing 15 or more unauthorized access devices and one count of aggravated identity theft. The charges stem from a 2020 investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Prosecutors said that when agents executed a search warrant at Monestine’s home on June 22, 2020, they uncovered a trove of stolen personal and financial information inside a padlocked room. Authorities found spreadsheets and electronic files containing approximately 450 access devices, including credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, bank account credentials, driver’s license numbers, phone numbers and dates of birth.
Investigators also recovered numerous electronic devices, including cellphones and a MacBook laptop, which allegedly contained detailed records of stolen personally identifying information. Text messages on Monestine’s phone included banking logins, PIN numbers and other data used to access victims’ accounts, court documents state.
In addition to digital evidence, agents seized more than $11,000 in cash, dozens of credit, debit and gift cards in other people’s names, fake identification cards, Western Union money orders and a credit card re-encoder used to write stolen information onto magnetic strips.
U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones said the defendant treated stolen identities “like inventory,” emphasizing that identity theft is not a victimless crime and can drain savings, damage credit and disrupt lives.
Federal authorities estimate victim losses in the case ranged between $250,000 and $550,000.
The case was investigated by the FBI’s Miami Field Office and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lindsey Maultasch along with Trial Attorneys Jinah Chang and Jennifer E. Burns of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
