Habitual Offender Sentenced

Conviction for Fraud Against Elderly Victim Results in 20 Year Prison Sentence

The Washoe County District Attorney’s Office has announced that a Reno man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison following convictions for fraud against an elderly victim and drug trafficking.   The case stemmed from an investigation by the Northern Nevada Repeat Offender (ROP) Unit and based on the defendant’s lengthy criminal history that included six (6) prior felony convictions, this office sought and received habitual criminal status for sentencing.  

Douglas Wayne Goins, 44, from Reno was sentenced last week in District Court by Judge Scott Freeman to a total of 20 years in prison with parole eligibility after 8 years.  Goins pled guilty in two separate cases last August involving one count of Obtaining and Using the Personal Identifying Information of an Older or Vulnerable Person and one count of Trafficking in a Controlled Substance, level 1.  Goins was adjudicated as a habitual criminal on both the fraud charge as well as the trafficking charge and received a combined sentence of 20 years.

In February, 2017, ROP Detectives began an investigation involving identity theft and fraudulent credit card applications and transactions.  Three suspects were identified with the aid of surveillance footage from a local sporting goods store. Goins along with two co-defendants, Joey Ray Griffin, 33 (2/20/84) and Jayleen Noreen Carter, 20 (DOB 11/5/97) were arrested after detectives determined they had used the identity of a 62 year old Reno man to apply for credit, which they used to purchase hunting and fishing equipment they later pawned.  On March 11, 2017, while the investigation was ongoing, Goins was stopped for traffic violations and arrested on the fraud charges and drug trafficking when he was found to be in possession of over 10 grams of Methamphetamine. Griffin pled guilty in August to one count of Obtaining and Using the Personal Identifying Information of an Older or Vulnerable Person and will be sentenced later this month.  Carter pled guilty to one count of Burglary in June, 2017 and was released by the court pending sentencing. A warrant was issued for her arrest based on her failure to comply with release conditions and she was arrested last Friday. 

At sentencing, Deputy District Attorney Darcy Cameron argued that despite numerous opportunities at probation and substance abuse treatment on nearly all of Goins prior convictions, nothing has curtailed his continued and unrelenting criminal behavior.  Goins had last been released from prison in 2016 and wasted no time in getting back into his old routine of victimizing innocent members of the community.