GREENEVILLE (WATE) - A Newport man was sentenced in federal court to serve 130 months in prison for credit card fraud and possession of a firearm as a convicted felon.
Billy Chad Reese, 39, pleaded guilty in August 2011 to the charges in a federal indictment.
He was also ordered to serve five years of supervised release after he gets out of prison and to pay $23,045.06 in restitution.
Reese, his wife Christy Leann Reese, and Jessica Hope Daniels ran a scheme breaking into cars in Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Pisgah National Forest, stealing credit cards and using them in Cocke County.
Between early May 2010 through January 2011, visitors to the parks in Haywood County, N.C., reported thefts from their automobiles and damage to the vehicles.
The passenger side windows were broken out after the vehicles were left at trail heads in relatively remote areas of the parks.
Stolen credit and debit cards were used in the same areas in Cocke County shortly after the break-ins.
Federal agents and officers searched the Reeses' residence in Bybee in March 2011. They found items taken from the vehicle break-ins there and at the home of Billy Chad Reese's mother in Newport.
A .22 caliber revolver was also found in a bedroom dresser in Bybee.
Reese was previously convicted in Jefferson County Criminal Court of seven counts of aggravated burglary. He also has convictions in Cocke County for theft of property.
Due to his prior burglary convictions, Reese's revolver possession was subject to an enhanced sentence under the Armed Career Criminal Act.
The sentencing for Christy Leann Reese and Jessica Hope Daniels is set for February 27 in Greeneville.
Billy Chad Reese (source: Department of Justice)
Christy Leann Reese (source: Department of Justice)
Jessica Hope Daniels (source: Department of Justice)
