ALBANY – A Philadelphia man Wednesday pled guilty in U.S. District Court in Albany to five felony counts for victimizing elderly women through the United States, including several in upstate New York.

Nelson Slaughter, 43, was caught in Kingston, where he was spotted by a security officer stealing the wallet from a 77-year-old woman in a grocery store.

He was sentenced in court for mail fraud, identification document fraud, mailing a threatening communication and aggravated identity theft.

He was sentenced to 6 1/3 years in federal prison.

On October 12, 2006, Slaughter pled guilty to his participation in a so-called “flip, bite and write” identity theft scheme perpetrated by a Philadelphia-based ring. He acted as a team leader in the ring which targeted elderly women shopping in grocery stores.

The team would distract elderly woman, steal their credit cards and then in a vehicle using a laptop computer and ID printer, make a false ID in the victim’s name with a picture of one of the ring members.

They would then use the fake credit card to buy expensive electronics, miscellaneous merchandise and gift cards, signing the victim’s name to the receipts.