Concord man will spend more than five years in prison after causing victims to lose over $250,000 in an ID theft scheme

Concord, California – A Concord man who pleaded guilty to an ID theft scheme that caused victims more than $250,000 in losses was handed down a five-and-a-half-year sentence in federal prison on Wednesday.

The 38-year-old, Jason Blackard, was sentenced on Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney after pleading guilty last October to “committing a series of frauds and thefts” from January 2019 to February 2021.

According to prosecutors, the defendant spent the money from the fraud on purchasing a $58,000 sportscar, a Mercedes Benz, and a motorboat.

A sentencing memo from Blackard’s lawyer, assistant federal public defender Elizabeth Falk, said that Blackard was trying to make things right and that a sergeant at Santa Rita Jail had complimented Blackard’s work ethic while working in a jail work program.

“By pleading guilty to his conduct over that entire period of time, Mr. Blackard is fully coming to grips with his lifestyle and well recognizes he has caused enormous harm to individuals and businesses alike. In his own words, he was a menace to society, and he wanted to close out all those cases with guilty pleas and ‘make things right,” Falk stated.

Blackard was caught in January 2019 while dressed as a mailman and using a United States Postal Service key to unlock a mail box near Sacramento and Powell Streets in San Francisco, according to authorities. According to the terms of the plea deal, he admitted to trying to steal mail.

Identity theft was used in combination with writing checks and taking out loans for “big ticket” items, as well as purchasing high-end merchandise. The deal says that he must pay $134,908,32 in victim restitution.