PEARSON: COUPLE ACCUSED OF DEALING IN ‘SUPER COCAINE’
A couple appeared in court today (Thurs) accused of masterminding a £350,000 credit card fraud and dealing in a designer drug dubbed ‘super cocaine’.
IT worker Edward Pearson, 23, and his sociology student girlfriend Cassandra Mennium, 20, are said to have used stolen credit card details to order large quantities of powerful MDPV from a firm in the US.
The pair are alleged to have had details of 503 credit cards on computers seized by police, as well as access to more than 400 compromised Paypal accounts and the illegally obtained personal details of more than eight million people.
MDPV – also known as ‘super cocaine’ – is a Class B drug in the UK, but is legal in the US, where it is sold as ‘bath salts’.
Pearson and Mennium are also said to have used the phoney details to pay for taxis and takeaway pizzas and to make a £400 donation to the Soldiers’ Angels charity in Pasadena, California.
Prosecutors estimate transactions totaling £350,000 were racked up on the cards and Paypal accounts.
Pearson is further alleged to have offered hacking services on the Ghostmarket hacking messageboard under the handle ‘G Zero’.
Pearson and Mennium were arrested at the flat they share in (17) Lendale, York, by officers from North Yorkshire Police on Wednesday following a joint operation with the Met’s e-Crime unit.
They appeared in custody at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court today for a short hearing.
The couple are charged with conspiracy to defraud, possessing articles for use in fraud, conspiracy to supply Class B drugs and breach of section 3(a) of the 1990 Computer Misuse Act.
They have yet to enter pleas.
Pearson, who is originally from Blandford Forum, Dorset, was remanded in custody by District Judge Daphne Wickham.
Mennium was bailed with a surety of £5,000 on the conditions that she surrenders her passport and does not contact Pearson.
She must also live with her stepfather in (15) Mapperley Drive, Newcastle upon Tyne, and will be subject to a nightly 9pm to 6am curfew.
Both will now appear at Southwark Crown Court on November 11 for a plea and case management hearing.
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