[3] Fort Dix is the largest single federal prison in the United States in the number of inmates housed there.

The ring targeted credit cards issued by major chain stores such as Macy's, Saks Fifth Avenue, Staples, Home Depot, Lowes and others.

McDowell and his co-conspirators obtained the personal information of credit card holders through customer service departments and added themselves as authorized users.

When McDowell's co-conspirators went to make purchases, they showed false identification or provided the last four digits of the cardholder's Social Security number and charged high-end items such as a John Deere tractor, big-screen televisions, snow blowers and stoves.

The companies that issued the cards, including Citigroup Financial, HSBC and GE Capital, lost between $500,000 and $1 million.