Worcester Man Sentenced For Stealing, Re-Selling $150K Worth Of MBTA Passes

WORCESTER, MA — A Worcester man will be sent to prison after stealing people's identities to buy more than $150,000 worth of MBTA passes.

Kokou Kuakmensah, 31, was sentenced Friday to five years in prison and three years of supervised release. On July 21, he pleaded guilty to wire fraud and four counts of aggravated identity theft.

Between January 2019 and March 2020, Kuakumensah used other people's credit card accounts to buy Commuter Rail passes at MBTA fare kiosks. He then re-sold the passes for less than their face value in a variety of ways, including selling them on Craigslist. He also sold the passes at the MBTA station in Grafton.

Prosecutors said the combined value of the passes stolen was $157,000, which he was ordered to pay in restitution.