Man caught with numerous fraudulent credit cards enters guilty plea

A New York state resident caught with numerous fraudulent credit cards entered a guilty plea to charges on Tuesday in Carbon County court.

Jiang Yuan, 31, of Brooklyn, pleaded to four counts of access device fraud.

He was arrested on Oct. 21, 2014, at the Walmart store in Mahoning Township. Township police were called to the store to a report of a man trying to use fraudulent credit cards. Yuan was taken into custody and found to be in possession of numerous credit cards. He was originally charged with 10 counts. The case has taken a long time through the court system with 20 continuances filed.

Yuan also pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a controlled substance for an incident on June 14 in Jim Thorpe. Yuan appeared at the courthouse, and while going through the metal detector to enter the building, a security guard found illegal drugs on him.

The plea proceeding was conducted through a Chinese/Mandarin interpreter as Yuan cannot speak any English.

On the access device counts Matika placed him on probation for a year on each count, all running concurrently. He was placed on probation for a year on the drug count, also concurrent with the other charges.

He was also ordered to render 50 hours of community service, get a drug and alcohol evaluation and follow any recommendations for treatment, pay court costs of about $1,000, pay a $50 per month supervision fee while on probation and stay out of the Walmart store.

There was no restitution as Yuan was unable to use the fraudulent cards.