LITTLE ROCK—A Blytheville man’s pattern of identity theft and fraudulent credit applications will result in him spending more than eight years in federal prison. Palmer Stubblefield, 41, was sentenced Wednesday to 102 months in prison for stealing identifying information and using it to apply for more than $148,500 in fraudulently obtained credit. United States District Judge Lee P. Rudofsky handed down the sentence.
Since 2019, law enforcement had been investigating Stubblefield for multiple fraudulent credit cards, lines of credit, and bank accounts that used the personal information of more than 139 victims. Many of the fraudulent credit cards were through Military Star (Milstar), which is owned and operated by the Army and Air Force Exchange Service. In 2020, investigators interviewed a victim who was able to identify Stubblefield as the person responsible for his identity theft. The investigation revealed approximately $148,500 in losses to the various victims.
In July 2021, Stubblefield was indicted by a federal grand jury with 13 counts, including three counts of falsely representing a social security number, three counts of aggravated identity theft, four counts bank fraud, two counts of theft or receipt of stolen mail, and one count of access device fraud. In September 2022, Stubblefield pleaded guilty to access device fraud in exchange for dismissal of the remaining counts.
In addition to the prison sentence, Judge Rudofsky sentenced Stubblefield to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay $147,500 in restitution. There is no parole in the federal prison system.
The case was investigated by the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations, U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, Little Rock Police Department, and Craighead County Sheriff’s Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Edward Walker.
