FRESNO, CA—Phillip Jacob Shinen, 32,
formerly of Madera, was arrested today in Southern California on a charge of
wire fraud relating to the fraudulent sale of websites, United States Attorney
Benjamin B. Wagner announced. The May 17, 2012 indictment was unsealed
following his arrest. Shinen is scheduled to appear today before a United
States Magistrate Judge in Santa Ana, California.
The indictment alleges that between
February 2007 and March 2008, Shinen advertised and sold websites to the
public. He guaranteed to purchasers that the websites would produce a certain
threshold income and promised that he would train purchasers to use the websites.
The websites, however, did not generate the level of income or Internet traffic
claimed by Shinen. In order to make it difficult for the website purchasers to
contact him, Shinen used a number of aliases.
This case is the product of an
investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Cyber Crimes Task Force,
which is made up of law enforcement officers from the FBI, Fresno Police
Department, and the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States
Attorney Henry Z. Carbajal, III is prosecuting the case.
The maximum statutory penalty for wire
fraud is 20 years in prison. The actual sentence, if convicted, will be
determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable
statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into
account a number of variables.
The charges are only allegations and the
defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a
reasonable doubt.
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