KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- A doctoral student at the University of Georgia has been sentenced in Knoxville to about six years in prison for his role in an identity theft and credit card fraud conspiracy.

Federal prosecutors said 25-year-old Carlton A. Lewis of Lithonia, Ga., provided credit and debit card skimming devices to waitresses in restaurants across the Southeast who used them to unlawfully obtain credit and debit card account information.

Prosecutors said he uploaded the account information to his computer and used a re-encoding device to transform prepaid money cards into counterfeit credit and debit cards, which were used to make purchases at retail stores.

Investigators said the case was broken when devices were found in his vehicle following a traffic stop by the Tennessee Highway Patrol.