Printer Pleads Guilty in Credit Card Scam

The 62-year-old owner of a North Hollywood card-printing business, who once went on TV to demonstrate how to make phony credit cards, pleaded guilty Tuesday to forging more than 1,000 of them, officials said.

As part of a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, Dalton Backus pleaded guilty to five counts of trafficking in fake credit cards and one count of possession of phony cards, Assistant U.S. Atty. Lisa Feldman said.

Feldman said Backus, who had initially claimed to have been entrapped by investigators from the U.S. Secret Service, admitted trying to sell 679 counterfeit Visas and MasterCards to an agent for $37,000. When Backus was arrested, another 1,014 cards were found at his business, TriTel Custom Cards, authorities said.

Backus admitted that the cards would have had a credit limit totaling more than $2.5 million, Feldman said.

Backus, who will be sentenced April 15, faces a maximum of 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each trafficking count and a maximum 10 years in prison and $250,000 fine for the possession count, Feldman said.