Last updated April 12, 2019
A Twin Cities man who confessed to having run a cell phone scam, which reached its end in Woodbury, was convicted of the crime on the 1 December. As part of his sentence, he must repay thousands of dollars that he scammed from his former employer.
The 22-year-old Trevor McDowell has been ordered to repay $4020 to AT&T and will spend the next five years on probation on the orders of 10th District Court Judge Gregory Galler. Should McDowell fail to abide by the conditions of his probation, he could face a sentence of up to 13 months in prison. McDowell has already received credit for the 257 days he spent in jail awaiting trial.
McDowell pleaded guilty to felony theft in the month of April of last year after calling the Woodbury AT&T store on 27 October 2009, pretending to be a man named Brandon who worked at the firm’s store in the Mall of America and requesting a transfer of mobile phones between stores. After several stores around the metro area began reporting missing cell phones after being contacted by this “Brandon”, the store staff became suspicious and called police, which were waiting for McDowell when he arrived. McDowell was placed under arrest on suspicion of theft, eventually admitting that he had been fired from AT&T for failing to show up to work and had begun running the scam using his knowledge of its retail transfer system.