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Noah Michael Urban went by various aliases, including “Elijah” and “King Bob” and is charged in federal court as being part of a scheme that led to theft of at least $800,000 in cryptocurrency.
A Palm Coast teen who went by aliases including “King Bob” and was accused of participating in an $800,000 cryptocurrency theft scheme should remain locked up awaiting trial in part because even his own parents can’t handle him, a federal prosecutor argued.
Noah Michael Urban, 19, was arrested in January and indicted on eight counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and five counts of aggravated identity theft.
Urban was part of a scheme that resulted in the theft of at least $800,000 from at least five different victims between August 2022 and March 2023, according to the indictment.
Urban used aliases including “Sosa,” “Elijah,” “Gustavo Fring” and “King Bob,” the indictment stated.
Federal Magistrate Judge Joel Toomey ordered at a Jan. 19 detention hearing that Urban remain jailed as he waited for his case to proceed through the court system. But Urban is appealing that decision. A prosecutor is arguing that Urban should remain locked up.
“It was clear from the evidence that even the defendant’s own parents, witnesses provided by the defendant himself, would be unable to deal with the defendant if he was released,” Assistant U.S. Attorney John Cannizzaro wrote.
‘Significant ties to community’
In her motion appealing the magistrate’s decision, Urban’s attorney, Assistant Federal Defender Kathryn Sheldon, argued that Urban does not pose a serious flight risk.
Urban is “a long-time resident of Florida” and he has “significant ties to the community including all his family that lived within 20 minutes of his temporary residence,” the motion states.
Urban can live with either his mother or father while his case goes through the court system, Sheldon wrote.
“The evidence was presented Mr. Urban could have stable residence with either his mother or his father during the pendency of the litigation,” she wrote.
Urban was living at an Airbnb when he was arrested.
Urban “grew tired of waiting at his father’s residence” and went to live temporarily at an Airbnb, the motion states.
Urban “voluntarily met with government agents across the country and remained in the community for months awaiting for a warrant to be issued,” according to Sheldon’s motion.
He made no plans to flee the country during that time, he has no prior arrests and has not failed to appear for a court date, the motion states.
Urban used his friend’s account to book the Airbnb because “he did not have significant enough credit to book the house for that length of time,” Sheldon wrote in the motion.
He did not change his phone number, and the government could have reached him had they called, she wrote.
“As to the issue of whether he has traveled internationally, he is 19 years old and was not aware of all the trips he had taken as a child,” Sheldon wrote.
Sheldon wrote that officials said Urban told his co-conspirators that he had been raided by the FBI. Officials also said that Urban accessed cryptocurrency in violation of an agreement with those officials. But she wrote that Urban had received a refund of cryptocurrency from a gambling website. Sheldon wrote that Urban said the co-conspirators were already aware of the raid due to his absence.
Sheldon wrote that Urban was strengthening the encryption on his computer when FBI agents arrived at his residence but since it was not complete, the agents had access to everything in the computer.
Urban’s mother did not trust him on computers
Prosecutor Cannizzaro wrote that while Sheldon said Urban could have been released to his parents, “even his own parents presented obstacles in their ability to serve as such.”
Urban’s father, identified as a “Dr. Urban” said that his son “was living in various Airbnbs, did not have any employment whatsoever but was paying his father rent to live in a previous house, and was so intelligent that he could possibly use his father’s Wi-Fi even if not being told the password,” Cannizzaro’s motion states.
Urban’s mother, Jennifer Walck, stated that Noah Urban “would not follow her rules and was kicked out of her home, that she did not trust him on computers, and that he was secretive,” according to the prosecutor’s motion.
The prosecutor also wrote that Urban’s assertion that he was not deleting files on his computer when federal agents showed up, but rather making the computer more secure, is even more reason to keep him locked up.
Had Urban been deleting files, “it would tend to show he was abandoning them in hopes of making sure that no one has access to them ever again,” the prosecutor wrote.
“But the defendant wanted to encrypt an already encrypted computer to ensure that the defendant would still have access to all the encrypted information but that the government would not have access to information,” the prosecutor wrote.
The prosecutor wrote that it was “classic obstruction.”
The prosecutor went on to list the judge’s reasons for keeping Urban locked up: using an alias, no job history, no fixed address and he declined to answer questions about his financial situation or how he paid rent or for personal property. Urban also communicated with co-conspirators after saying he wouldn’t and he declined to provide a urine sample.
He asked that Urban remain locked up.
Urban’s is next scheduled to appear in federal court in Jacksonville on May 29 for a status conference. His trial is scheduled for June 3.
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