Spanish teacher at Lake Roosevelt High School arrested for identity theft-forgery charges www.privateofficer.com

Grand Coulee, WA April 18 2013 A Spanish teacher at Lake Roosevelt High School is in Okanogan County Jail this week, facing charges of forgery and identity theft, after being arrested last Thursday by Coulee Dam police.
Guillermo Guzman has also had a hold placed on him by Border Patrol agents and he will face deportation hearings in Tacoma when he is finished in Okanogan County, according to a jail spokesman.
Guzman was picked up by Coulee Dam police officers along with a Border Patrol agent after a man with a similar name had tried to file for Social Security benefits and was denied because the federal agency’s records showed that he was employed as a teacher in Coulee Dam.
That prompted his call to Coulee Dam police last Tuesday.
Guzman, originally from Mexico, holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from the University of Washington and a state teaching certificate. He taught on the west side of the state before coming to Lake Roosevelt in 2008, the only applicant for the Spanish teacher position at the high school.
According to Grand Coulee Dam School District Superintendent Dennis Carlson, Guzman had passed the Washington State Patrol’s background check and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s fingerprint check.
A person who has been doing substitute teaching in the district is taking Guzman’s place at the high school, where he has taught Spanish and world history. Guzman is currently on paid administrative leave until his status is legally determined, Carlson said.
Students at the high school Monday described Guzman as a hard-working teacher who stays hours after school correcting student work and as a man with a big heart who helps others.
They noted Guzman’s absence places a strain on the remaining school staff, with his substitute already having taken over English classes for Brandon Byers, who took an interim principalship at Grand Coulee Dam Middle School in February.
The local Spanish teacher’s arrest occurred just as national attention turns to the debate on immigration reform about to begin in Congress, a debate expected to take months.
A Senate bill introduced Tuesday night would remove the threat of deportation for nearly 12 million people who are currently in the country illegally. It would also make them wait a decade for full citizenship status and make them pay fines and penalties.
In 2013, the United States will limit the number of “preference visas” issued to applicants in any one country to 26,600. The number of people in Mexico on that waiting list is 1,316,118, according a Travel.State.Gov, a website of the Bureau of Consular Affairs of the U.S. Department of State.

Former Loan Officer Convicted of Fraud and Identity Theft Related to Mortgage Fraud Scheme www.privateofficer.com

 

LAS VEGAS NV April 12 2013—Following a six-day jury trial, Nicholas Lindsey, 40, of, Billings, Montana, was convicted today of nine counts of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft for his role in a mortgage fraud scheme, announced Daniel G. Bogden, United States Attorney for the District of Nevada.

“Many innocent homeowners in Nevada have suffered because of this type of crime involving fraudulent residential mortgage transactions,” said U.S. Attorney Bogden. “Since 2008, when the FBI and our office made mortgage fraud prosecutions a priority, we have investigated, charged, and convicted hundreds of persons for federal mortgage fraud crimes, and most of them are now serving time in federal prison.”

According to the indictment and evidence presented to the jury during the trial, from about May to September 2006, Lindsey, who worked as a loan officer for Clear Mortgage and Signature Mortgage, recruited straw buyers to participate in what he described as a lucrative real estate investment opportunity by purchasing five homes in the Las Vegas area. Evidence at trial demonstrated that Lindsey secured over $3 million in mortgage loans by knowingly causing to be placed in the straw buyers’ mortgage loan applications false information concerning the buyers’ income, assets, and intents to occupy the homes. Once the mortgages were approved, Lindsey fraudulently diverted to his bank account a portion of the proceeds disbursed from escrow and used these funds for his own benefit. Lindsey realized additional profits by living in or renting out properties in the buyers’ names.

In addition to the five homes of which the buyers were aware, Lindsey stole two buyers’ identities and used their personal information to purchase three additional properties in their names. The evidence established that Lindsey leased two of these properties and collected rental income and used the third as his own personal residence. After collecting profits, Lindsey stopped making the mortgage payments on the properties and allowed all eight homes to default in the borrowers’ names, causing an estimated loss to lenders of $1.6 million.

Lindsey was ordered detained pending sentencing. He is scheduled to be sentenced by Senior U.S. District Judge Lloyd D. George on July 22, 2013, at 9:00 a.m. He faces up to 30 years in prison on each fraud count, as well as two years in prison on the aggravated identity theft count, which must be served consecutively to any prison term ordered on the fraud counts. He also faces fines of up to $1 million on each count.

The case was investigated by the FBI and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christina Brown and Department of Justice Trial Attorney Brian Young.

This case was handled in connection with the President’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. The task force was established to wage an aggressive, coordinated, and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. With more than 20 federal agencies, 94 U.S. attorneys’ offices, and state and local partners, it is the broadest coalition of law enforcement, investigatory, and regulatory agencies ever assembled to combat fraud. Since its formation, the task force has made great strides in facilitating increased investigation and prosecution of financial crimes; enhancing coordination and cooperation among federal, state, and local authorities; addressing discrimination in the lending and financial markets and conducting outreach to the public, victims, financial institutions, and other organizations. Over the past three fiscal years, the Justice Department has filed nearly 10,000 financial fraud cases against nearly 15,000 defendants including more than 2,900 mortgage fraud defendants. For more information on the task force, please visit http://www.stopfraud.gov.

2 Maryland men arrested, indicted for manufacturing fake identification documents www.privateofficer.com

BALTIMORE MD March 29 2013

Special agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arrested two men in Maryland Wednesday morning after both were indicted on document fraud related charges.

Antonio Abraham Cruz-Cruz, 26, a Mexican citizen residing in Adelphi, Md., and Henry Ramos Agustin, 37, a Guatemalan citizen residing in Cambridge, Md., were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges relating to the sale and transfer of fraudulent identification documents.  The superseding indictment was returned on March 20 and unsealed Wednesday upon the arrest of the defendants.

“Document fraud poses a threat to national security and puts the security of our communities at risk because it creates a vulnerability that may enable terrorists, criminals and illegal aliens to gain entry to and remain in the United States,” said HSI Baltimore Special Agent in Charge William Winter. “This investigation resulted in the arrest and indictment of an alleged document mill leader and co-conspirator operating out of Maryland. Homeland Security Investigations will move aggressively to investigate and bring to justice those who potentially compromise the integrity of America’s legal immigration system.”

The 13-count indictment alleges that from Oct. 17, 2012 through Feb. 19, Cruz-Cruz and Agustin conspired to manufacture and transfer fraudulent identification documents.  According to the indictment, Cruz-Cruz manufactured documents, including permanent resident cards and social security cards, which he sold to customers, and which he provided to Agustin for sale to customers. The indictment alleges that the defendants solicited and took orders for false identification documents from customers who provided the defendants with photographs and personal information.  Agustin allegedly provided the photographs and personal information to Cruz-Cruz, who manufactured the requested fake documents, which he then delivered to Agustin in exchange for a portion of the sales price.

The indictment alleges that Cruz-Cruz sold such manufactured fake documents to his own customers as well. The defendants face up to 15 years in prison for the conspiracy and for each count of transfer of false identification documents; 10 years in prison for each count of fraud and misuse of immigration documents; five years in prison for each count of social security number fraud and a mandatory two years in prison, consecutive to any other sentence, for aggravated identity theft. An initial appearance and arraignment was held Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. Cruz-Cruz and Agustin are detained pending trial.

The case was investigated by HSI Baltimore and HSI Ocean City with the assistance of the Anne Arundel County Police Department and Baltimore County Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tamera L. Fine for the District of Baltimore.
source- http://www.abc2news.com

2 from Mexico sentenced in Las Vegas counterfeit ID case www.privateofficer.com

Las Vegas NV March 28 2013 Authorities in Las Vegas say a man and woman from Mexico were sentenced to two to five years in state prison and will face deportation for operating a counterfeiting operation that sold phony identification at swap meets.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say 38-year-old Jose Navarro-Parra and 30-year-old Libia Bustillos-Gonzalez were sentenced Friday in Clark County District Court.

They were arrested in March 2012 by Homeland Security agents and Las Vegas police who recovered computers, printers, laminating machines and $18,000 in cash.

They pleaded guilty in January to establishing and possessing a financial forgery laboratory.

Investigators say Navarro-Parra and Bustillos-Gonzalez charged $100 for a packet containing an immigration document and a Social Security card, and an additional $180 for phony driver’s licenses from states including Nevada, Virginia, Colorado and Texas.
Read more: http://www.lasvegassun.com

Hospital Identity Theft Found at Some South Florida Hospitals www.privateofficer.com

Miami Fla March 22 2013 Pictures taken in February and March of 2012 show Alci Bonannee and Chante Mozley, two convicted identity thieves, withdrawing cash from several banks in Broward County.

The federal government says the money came from stolen tax refunds that belonged to people like Miami resident Joseph Szot.

“When I filed a return, the accountant told me you can’t file because somebody filed already,” Szot said.

And just how did Bonannee and Mozley get Szot’s tax refund? Federal authorities said it happened while he was a patient at South Miami Hospital.

The pair is accused of paying respiratory therapist Betty Cole for patients’ personal information including their social security number. Internal Revenue Service Special Agent in Charge of the Miami office Tony Gonzalez said: “The bad guys that are able to get these social security numbers are buying them from employees that work at these hospitals and these medical centers which are sold up to $150 each.”

The breach at South Miami Hospital happened between June of 2011 and February 2012 and affected 834 patients.

In a statement, Baptist Health which operates South Miami Hospital, said “the employee was terminated, and efforts are underway to prosecute this individual to the fullest extent possible.”

NBC 6 reached out to that employee, Betty Cole, but she didn’t want to talk to the Team 6 Investigators.

The south Miami case is the latest hospital ID theft to surface in South Florida. Since 2009, the Department of Health and Human Services has received reports that hundreds of thousands of patients have been affected by breaches at hospitals across South Florida. The hospitals with the largest breaches include Memorial Healthcare System with 111,650 patients affected, the University of Miami Health System with 66,065 people, Mount Sinai Medical Center with 2,600 patients and Jackson Health System with 2,062 patients.

Although many hospitals have had more breaches, a federal act called HITECH only requires that medical centers report breaches that affect more than 500 patients. Gonzalez said they’ve seen a case where “gentleman who provided a service of taking elders home after being seen at a hospital, would cut their little tabs off their wristbands and with the patient number, walk into the hospital, look at the computer and get a social security number without ever being an employee of that hospital.”

In April of last year, Memorial Healthcare System in Hollywood notified about 9,500 patients that two employees were fired because they may have inappropriately accessed their personal information with the intent to process fraudulent tax returns. In a statement, Memorial said it “continues to enhance its security controls and monitoring systems, limit user access in all physicians’ offices, and has reinforced the importance of the privacy and confidentiality of patients’ information with its staff and affiliated physicians’ employees.”

Last year, Jackson North had a breach that affected over 500 patients. Ed O’Dell, the spokesperson for Jackson Health system says in that case it “was a volunteer in a patient care area and he was apparently taking pictures of patient information.”

Since then, Jackson has implemented new rules for volunteers prohibiting them from using smartphones in patient areas. Linda Quick, President of the South Florida Hospital and Healthcare Association, a trade association, said the industry is not immune to breaches. She told NBC 6: “proportionate to the number of people who are seen in our member institutions, it’s not pervasive in any way.”

Szot doesn’t blame South Miami Hospital. He said he believes companies in general should find a way to reduce the risk of security breaches.

“I think corporations use Social Security numbers too much for identifying you, putting the information out to too many people,” he said.

The IRS said hospitals have been cooperating with them to combat identity theft, a growing crime.

So how can you avoid becoming a victim at a hospital?

“You do not have to provide your Social Security number, but you do have to provide enough information for you to be distinguishable from other people,” Quick said.

A hospital may still require your social security number to verify coverage if your insurance provider only identifies you that way, but experts say you should ask questions before handing your number over.

“You don’t always have to give it. If they ask for it, make sure that there’s a valid reason to receive it, but it doesn’t often have to be given,” Postal Inspector Blanca Alvarez said.

The IRS says identity theft affects many industries, not just hospitals. According to HHS reports, health insurance companies have had breaches affecting millions of Floridians.

Source: NBC6

Atlanta man bilked billions of dollars from retailers and government www.privateofficer.com

ATLANTA, GA March 17 2013 (UPI) — Police say an Atlanta man is involved in an identity theft scheme that has bilked billions of dollars from retailers and government, and ruined credit ratings.

Investigators say Erkes Antwon Green, 28, is part of a network of identification thieves who have collected pertinent information from hundreds of unsuspecting people using a “keystroke grabber,” a device which, when attached to a computer, can collect information about which keyboard keys are struck, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Friday.

He was released from jail last week despite evidence Green filed or attempted to file bogus income tax returns in the name of 150 or more victims, Detective Ken Stapler of the Atlanta police department’s major fraud unit said. “

He can be anybody he wants to be. He’s got [at least] 142 choices that I counted,” Stapler said. Green was arrested Feb. 28 for bank fraud after opening a bank account with a fraudulent check and a stolen identification, the newspaper said. “He was able to get about $14,000 from the ATM before the bank realized the check was no good,” Stapler said, adding after police traced Green to his Atlanta apartment, “I discovered a file cabinet and counted at least 142 files that had people’s names, date of birth and Social Security numbers.

He’s doing tax returns with each of these names. While we’re in the apartment we discover he’s furnished the whole apartment using stolen identities.” Among the victims was Mark Arum, an Atlanta television news reporter, whose identity Green used to purchase a $73,000 Mercedes-Benz, the newspaper said.

Palm Beach County Health Department Employee Arrested for Stealing Patient Information www.privateofficer.com

Palm Beach Fla Feb 15 2013

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Michael B. Steinbach, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, announce that Salita St. Simon, 30, of Belle Glade, was arrested today on a charge of identity theft, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1028(a)(7). If convicted, St. Simon faces up to five years’ imprisonment and three years of supervised release.

According to the criminal complaint and information provided in Court, St. Simon was a senior clerk at the Palm Beach County Health Department (PBCHD) until earlier today. For approximately the last year, St. Simon obtained patient identification information, including patient names and Social Security numbers, from the PBCHD’s computer system and provided that information to her accomplices. These accomplices, in turn, used the information to file fraudulent tax returns seeking the patients’ refunds. Over the last year, St. Simon stole more than 2,800 patients’ information in this way.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the FBI and thanked the PBCHD for its substantial assistance in investigating this matter. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Osborne.

A complaint is only an accusation, and a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

17 arrested in Jacksonville ID theft, tax fraud at banks www.privateofficer.com

 

Jacksonville Fla Nov 24 2012 A seven-month joint investigation by the State Attorney’s Office, Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Secret Service has led to 17 people being arrested in an identity theft and bank fraud racket.

State Attorney Angela Corey announced the arrests Thursday with federal officials. Corey said the case originated with an employee of Citibank stealing the identities of customers.

False tax returns were then filed using these false identities.

“I can tell you this case is one of the largest ID thefts we have investigated,” Corey said. “We found victims that are children, we found victims that are deceased.”

Victims are from across the country, including New York, New Hampshire and Virginia, Corey said.

IRS Special Agent in Charge Jim Robnett said at least 185 people had their identities stolen with about $500,000 in false claims being made and the IRS paying out about $340,000.

The investigation began when VyStar Credit Union noticed multiple tax returns being cashed into single accounts. VyStar also thought it was suspicious that people who didn’t live in theJacksonville area were depositing their refund checks in these accounts.

Investigators identified Jacksonville resident Larry Bernard Worth, 31, as one of the ringleaders of the plan. Worth was arrested Tuesday and charged with bank fraud. He is accused of recruiting at least three other people to go to VyStar with fraudulent checks and recruiting five VyStar tellers to assist with cashing the checks.

Each teller was paid about $1,000, and the refund checks averaged about $7,500 each, Corey said.

VyStar CEO Terry West said it was disappointing that employees were involved in criminal activity, but the credit union is also proud that its internal controls caught the fraud.

“It doesn’t feel good to have our employees do this,” West said. “But I want to make clear that none of our members had their identities stolen.”

State Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Jackelyn Barnard said the identity theft occurred at Citibank, not Vystar.

In a statement emailed to the Times-Union, Citibank said it worked with law enforcement after discovering concerns with collections department employee Nanniesha Taliferro, 25, whose boyfriend also was later arrested.

“We also notified those customers who were impacted and closed their accounts to prevent further unauthorized access,” the statement said.

Customers victimized are not liable for any unauthorized charges made to their accounts.

After getting the case from VyStar, investigators identified Latissha Johnson, 35, and Terrance Byrd, 28, as the ones suspected of preparing most of the fake tax returns. After arresting them, police were able to identify others involved.

Assistant State Attorney Joe Licandro said law enforcement has worked diligently to inform all the people whose identities were stolen.

The majority of victims were elderly, but they stole any identification they could get, Licandro said.

source-jacksonville.com

Pa. insurance agency employee accused of 94 criminal counts-identity theft www.privateofficer.com

 

YORK, Pa. Nov 19 2012

An insurance agency employee is accused of the stealing personal information of customers and applying for credit cards in their names.

Marshall Anthony Bradley, 33, of Conewago Township, has been arrested on 94 criminal counts; including 29 felony counts each of forgery, identity theft, and unlawful use of a computer, as well as charges of theft, receiving stolen property, and related offenses.

Northern York County Regional police said that beginning in May 2012, victims began reporting that they had received unsolicited credit cards in the mail, had inconsistencies on their credit reports, or had mail taken from their mailboxes.

A majority of the transactions were tracked to an Internet address belonging to a ManchesterTownship insurance agent and to an Internet address belonging to Harrisburg Area Community College. Bradley was found to a be a HACC student and an employee of the insurance agent, police said.

Police said Bradley would access personal information through the insurance agency’s computerized files, then apply for credit cards in the names of the victims and have the cards sent to the victims’ addresses.

He would then determine the mail delivery schedule for the address in question and repeatedly check the mailbox to retrieve the credit card before the victim discovered it, police said.

Bradley would then use the cards until they were maxed out or canceled, according to police.

Twenty-nine victims have been identified so far. The total amount of loss to the victims and the credit card companies is still being determined, police said.

Anyone with information may call the Northern York County Regional Police Department at 717-292-3647.

Source:WHTM

Federal agents charge 53 with fraud-identity theft in Puerto Rico www.privateofficer.com

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico Nov 16 2012 – Fifty-three individuals charged with theft of government property and identity theft were arrested on Wednesday in several municipalities of Puerto Ricofollowing a joint Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (HSI) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) probe.

The case involves a scheme to defraud the United States by fraudulently obtaining and converting to cash U.S. Treasury checks issued by the IRS in connection with fraudulent tax returns filed with the agency. As part of the scheme, tax returns were filed using the personal identifying information of individuals, when in reality, said individuals never filed such tax returns with the IRS. The investigation has revealed that the fraudulent tax returns were filed without the consent of the taxpayers who appear in the returns.

The majority of the defendants would attempt to negotiate the Treasury checks by depositing them in their accounts at financial institutions such as banks and credit unions. Other defendants cashed or attempted to cash the checks at post offices. When a defendant attempted to cash the check at a post office, he or she would present a false identification document such as a driver’s license.

If convicted, the defendants face a maximum possible sentence of 10 years on the theft of government property charge, plus two consecutive years if convicted on the aggravated identity theft charge. The investigation is ongoing.

The case is being investigated by the IRS, Criminal Investigation Division, with the collaboration of HSI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the U.S. Secret Service, and is being prosecuted by First Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria A. Dominguez. The Puerto Rico Police Department and the San Juan Municipal Police participated in the arrests.

Woman pleads guilty to stealing identities from Troy Hospital www.privateofficer.com

 

Montgomery AL Oct 28 2012 A Montgomery woman has pleaded guilty to several charges in connection with a tax fraud scheme, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced.

Angeline Austin, 41, admitted in a plea agreement that she stole more than 800 names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth from patients at Troy Hospital.

She was working for Southern Records Management Inc., a company that assigns employees to different companies, and she was assigned to the hospital.

Austin admitted she sold the stolen identities to another person involved in the scheme who used them to file fraudulent tax returns.

The tax refunds were placed on prepaid debit cards and sent to the people involved in the scheme. The people then cashed them at ATMs.

Austin was paid for every identity she stole from Troy Hospital, according to court records.

Austin pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to defraud the government regarding claims, one count of fraud in connection with identification documents, one count of fraud with computers and one count of aggravated identity theft.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office has announced several tax fraud and stolen identity cases with defendants from Montgomery this week.

A Montgomery woman was sentenced to 70 months for tax fraud earlier this week, and twoMontgomery men were indicted on similar charges this week as well.

Alabama woman sentenced to prison for stolen identity refund fraud scheme www.privateofficer.com

 

MONTGOMERY, AL -Oct 26 2012

An Alabama woman, Jacqueline Slaton, was sentenced to 70 months in prison and order to pay restitution of over $100,000 for her involvement in stolen identity refund fraud scheme, the George L. Beck, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama announced Wednesday.

“The Justice Department remains committed to investigating and prosecuting tax fraud perpetrated by identity thieves,” said Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Tax Division Kathryn Keneally. “The lengthy prison sentences handed down by this court, in this and other cases, show that criminals will pay a high price for committing stolen identity refund fraud.”

“Identity theft cannot and will not be tolerated,” said U.S. Attorney Beck.  “Those who commit such crimes will be prosecuted, as Ms. Slaton was, to the full extent of the law.”

“Be assured that IRS has made an unwavering commitment to the pursuit of identity theft,” stated Richard Weber, Chief, IRS Criminal Investigation. “Identity theft is not a victimless crime. Identity theft is a contemptible crime that victimizes honest taxpayers and causes immense hardship. IRS Criminal Investigation works in concert with our partners at the U.S. Attorney’s Office and together we will hold those who engage in similar conduct accountable.”

According to court documents, in 2012, Slaton was in the midst of filing false tax returns using stolen identities when IRS special agents executed a search warrant and ended her operation. At the time, Slaton had access to hundreds of stolen identities.

According to the plea agreement, between December 2011 and March 2012, Slaton filed at least 102 fraudulent federal income tax returns using stolen identities. She also filed 102 fraudulentAlabama state tax returns. The total federal and state tax refunds requested was $154,904. Slaton had the tax refunds directed to prepaid debit cards and had the cards mailed to various addresses on a U.S. carrier’s route. A postal employee agreed to collect the prepaid debit cards for a fee.

Assistant Attorney General Keneally and United States Attorney George L. Beck, Jr. commended the efforts of special agents of IRS – Criminal Investigation, who investigated the case, and Tax Division Trial attorneys Jason H. Poole and Michael Boteler and Assistant United States Attorney Todd Brown, who prosecuted the case.

INFORMATION SOURCE: US Attorney George Beck, Jr’s office

Man convicted of slithering on movie theater floors stealing credit cards www.privateofficer.com

HARTFORD CT Oct 25 2012 — A man who may have stolen as much as $70,000 a week by slithering beneath theater seats while movies were playing and lifting credit cards from women’s’ pocketbooks was convicted Monday of fraud and identity theft crimes.

Anthony Johnson, 49, and a string of accomplices used the stolen cards to collect thousands of dollars in cash advances from Connecticut’s gambling casinos and to make tens of thousands of dollars more in retail purchases in Connecticut and elsewhere, authorities said.

On a “good” weekend, Johnson collected $50,000 to $70,000 from the scheme, one of his accomplices testified last week at his trial at U.S. District Court in Hartford. He had to settle for $30,000 or $40,000 on a bad weekend, the accomplice said.

The accomplice, who agreed to cooperate with authorities, said Johnson, of Philadelphia, typically worked with women accomplices. They bought tickets to motion pictures likely to be popular with female audiences and chose seats from which they could watch how women in the audience stored their pocketbooks.

“Once the movie started, Johnson crawled on the floor, removed credit cards from the stored purses, and returned the wallet to the purses,” according to an FBI affidavit. “Johnson crawled in this manner around the theater until he was done…”

Afterward, Johnson used counterfeiting equipment to manufacture driver’s licenses bearing the photograph of his current accomplice and the identifying information of the owner of the stolen credit cards.

Armed with phony identification, Johnson and his accomplices went on shopping sprees.

With three cards stolen from the pocketbook of a woman watching a feature at the Bow-Tie Cinema in Greenwich on Dec. 27, 2008, Johnson and his accomplice ran up $54,000 in charges. A variety of retailers and the Foxwoods Casino turned down another $40,000 in charges.

The FBI credited a big break in the case to dogged work by a Greenwich police detective who took the complaint from the Greenwich theater and refused to drop it in spite of setbacks. The detective collected evidence of crimes fitting the same pattern elsewhere in New England and the Northeast.

The detective put together profiles of Johnson and his various accomplices, according to information provided by the FBI.

Johnson was tried and convicted of crimes associated with thefts from the Bow-Tie Cinema inGreenwich, the Gallery Cinemas in Colchester and at Fairfield Cinemas in Fairfield.

During a theft from the Colchester theater on Aug. 15, 2010, one of the stolen credit cards was used at a gas station 52 minutes into a 90-minute feature. Later in the day, the card was used to obtain $4,000 in cash advances and an $863 item from a Coach store at the Mohegan Sun casino.

The FBI said Johnson has been creeping over theater floors since at least 2007, when he was released from prison in a case involving the theft of a diamond in the Philadelphia area.

A jury convicted Johnson Monday of seven counts of unauthorized use of an access device, such as a credit or debit card, and two counts of aggravated identity theft. The access device convictions carry maximum 10-year sentences and the identity theft charges carry additional two-year sentences.

Source-hartford courant

Police arrest seven people from Georgia involved in international fraud ring www.privateofficer.com

 

Naperville  IL Oct 20 2012 Police have arrested seven people from Georgia they say are part of an “international fraud group,” operating out of the western suburbs.

The group members posted fake ads on Craigslist and made more than 50 fraudulent money/wire transfers, according to police.

Investigators this week located a makeshift lab equipped with computers and specialized printers used to make counterfeit identification, police said in a news release. They also found 62 counterfeit identification cards and numerous passports.

Police say the seven people they took into custody are part of a larger crime group operating in eastern Europe. Alicia Y. Jordan, 38, of Clarkston, Ga.; Darrick, L. Jordan, 23, of Decatur, Ga.; Jacqueline C. Gibson, 46, of Decatur, Ga.; Rickey L. Gibson, 43, of Atlanta, Ga; Decopeland S. Harris, 41, of Conley Ga.; Sierra S. Chambers, 25; of Decatur, Ga.; and Shanekie D. Head, 28, of Scottsdale, Ga. have each been charged with identity theft and forgery. They are being held at the DuPage County jail.

SC unlicensed nurse worked for nearly 3 decades www.privateofficer.com

Anderson County SC OCT 13 2012 A South Carolina woman has admitted to working as a nurse and nursing instructor for the past 27 years despite having never earned a nursing degree.

Investigators with the State Law Enforcement Division say Denise Lynn Lollis has been working as a nurse in Anderson County without a license since 1985.

Her arrest warrant says Lollis voluntarily wrote a statement to SLED where she admitted she provided counterfeit licensing documents to her employers, AnMed Health and Tri CountyTechnical College, where she was a nursing instructor.

The affidavit states the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation did confirm the licensing numbers Lollis used were not hers and that she was never issued a nursing license.

Rebecca Eidson with Tri County Technical College’s public relations department said Denise Lynn Lollis was on staff at the college until August 9, 2012.

Her position was lab coordinator for licensed practical nursing. Eidson would not say whether Lollis resigned, or was fired. She also would not say if her departure stems from the arrest.

Lollis was hired at the college in 1991. One of her former students says that Lollis’ arrest devastated her and she says that she does not want to believe Lollis did anything wrong.

She said, “I don’t condone it, but I knew the skills she had, I knew the type of person she was as far as being a nurse and being a good human being and trying to help people succeed.”

AnMed released a statement on Lollis, which said “…all nurses must produce a valid nursing license each year to continue employment in the health system. When Denise Lynn Lollis was unable to produce a valid license earlier this year, AnMed Health contacted the appropriate authorities, thus starting the investigation into Ms. Lollis’s licensure.”

“Ms. Lollis, who had been working on an as-needed basis, was pulled from patient care as soon as questions arose about her licensure.

Her employment at AnMed Health officially ended May 30, 2012.

AnMed Health has cooperated fully with this investigation and will continue to be vigilant in our efforts to ensure employees are qualified to perform the duties they are assigned.”

Lollis was released on a $10,000 personal recognizance bond.

Source:WAVE3

Spokane police break major identity theft ring www.privateofficer.com

 

SPOKANE, Wash.Oct 12 2012 –Multiple federal agencies worked with Spokane Countyauthorities Thursday to break up an identity theft ring. Investigators said the theft ring racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in stolen credit.

Thursday morning authorities busted suspects in four different houses across Spokane. Authorities were at homes on Burns, Decater, Waldo, and at Altamont and Hartson.

The U.S. Postal Inspector, U.S. Secret Service, Social Security Administration, Spokane County Investigative Task Force and Spokane Police were all part of the raid.

There are over 300 victims, and thousands of dollars worth of stolen material according to detectives.

Michael Clark Jr., 24, was arrested in connection with the case. He faces forgery, theft, and money laundering charges.

The second arrest was made on a woman for drug possession.

More arrests could follow according to police.

source-krem

Tonawanda Walmart manager arrested for stealing a customer’s credit card information www.privateofficer.com

 Tonawanda NY Sept 10 2012 The Wal-Mart manager who was arrested last week in North Tonawanda for stealing a customer’s credit card information was charged with a similar offense while working at Bon-Ton in the Town of Tonawanda just a few months ago.

Eric A. Martinez, 23, was arrested June 20 at the Sheridan Drive store.

“A customer noticed some unauthorized charges, and last used (her credit card) at the Bon-Ton store,” Lt. Nick Bado said. “She never got the credit card back from the clerk. It looks like he actually took it from her.”

Bado said Discover representatives contacted the victim and told her there had been suspicious purchases at a few other stores in the area, but it’s unknown exactly what Martinez bought.

The woman called town police and detectives investigated.

“I don’t know exactly how they ended up catching him,” Bado said. “They probably went over there and identified him. Ultimately, he was connected to it.”

Martinez, of Niagara Street, Buffalo, was charged with three counts as a result of the incident — fourth-degree grand larceny, felony identity theft, and misdemeanor identity theft.

Martinez is scheduled to be sentenced for those charges Nov. 29. And on Thursday, he’s expected to appear in North Tonawanda City Court in relation to the incident at Walmart, where he will be arraigned on a charge of third-degree unlawful possession of personal identification.

The small statured man from Puerto Rico was arrested at the newly opened Walmart on Aug. 29 after a Wheatfield man told authorities his credit card company had reported several suspicious charges on the card.

The victim, who lives on Graydon Drive, said he visited the store Aug. 27 to return an item. Martinez, who was a manager in the customer service department, completed the transaction and wrote down the customer’s credit card information during the process.

The victim questioned Martinez as to why he was copying the information down, but Martinez told him he needed it to handle the request. The victim told authorities he didn’t think anything of it at the time.

But on Wednesday, the fraud department at the credit card company called the victim and said there had been multiple charges on the card at retail websites. The victim immediately suspected Martinez.

Niagara County Sheriff’s deputies arrived at the store to investigate and the officers’ report states Martinez initially denied the allegations, saying, “I don’t know anything about anyone’s credit cards.

The deputies then consulted with store security and found a video of the transaction in question.

Eventually, Martinez succumbed to detectives’ questions and admitted his actions, the report said.

“OK, yes, I wrote down the customer’s credit card number and security code. … I went home and used the credit card information to buy a few iPhones online,” the report quotes.

The arrest report states Martinez bought the phones from a few different websites and planned on selling them to a store.

He admitted to being arrested “up to eight times before” and stealing another Walmart customer’s credit card information for the same purpose. NT detectives are continuing to investigate the case and Wal-Mart representatives have not returned

Martinez is being held in lieu of $500 bail.

Source: The Tonawanda News

Man stole doctor’s ID, saw 500 patients in past year www.privateofficer.com

 

COLUMBIA, S.C. Sept 1 2012— A man stole a physician’s identity and pretended to be a doctor for a year in South Carolina, and now investigators are combing through medical records to see whether he harmed any of the hundreds of patients he treated, authorities said.

Ernest Addo of Austell, Ga., is charged with unlawful practice of medicine and obtaining goods under false pretense, authorities said.

Addo doesn’t have a medical licence in the U.S. But he assumed a doctor friend’s identity, getting a driver’s licence and presenting the massive amount of paperwork needed to prove he was a doctor. The documents were given to him by the friend in hopes they could open a medical clinic together when the real doctor returned from a yearlong trip to Ghana, Lexington County Sheriff James Metts said.

The real doctor, Arthur Kennedy, said he is embarrassed and devastated by what his friend did.

Addo did have some medical training, and acted enough like a doctor not to raise any serious suspicion beyond one nurse — interviewed after Addo’s Aug. 24, arrest — who wondered why he consulted ask.com when she questioned his treatment plan, Metts said.

The motive appears to be greed, the sheriff said. Court documents show Addo has a history of financial trouble.

Records obtained by The Associated Press show in the past 20 years, at least two dozen liens have been filed against Addo for around $200,000, including unpaid rent, credit card bills, student loans and taxes. Addo has declared bankruptcy twice.

After Addo’s arrest last week at his Georgia home, officers found fake IDs and other documents, and Metts said it appears Addo might have tried to fake his way through other lucrative careers, too. The sheriff wouldn’t specify which ones.

“He seems to be a professional con guy,” Metts said.

Authorities have said Addo received more than $10,000 for his services but declined to elaborate. One of the jobs also gave him the use of a Mercedes.

Addo, 48, has been jailed in Cobb County, Ga., since his arrest, and neither the sheriff nor jail officials knew if he had an attorney. Addo is refusing to talk to authorities, and both his home phone and cellphone have been disconnected.

Addo faces more than a decade in prison for his current charges, but he could end up in even more trouble. Metts said his investigators are reviewing the medical records of more than 500 patients Addo saw while at four Columbia-area senior centers and a rehabilitation center owned by Agape Senior Primary Care.

Metts said some of those patients died. He said more charges could follow if any of those deaths were linked to Addo’s actions.

Addo was hired as a general practitioner and provided the kind of exams patients would receive during a visit to the family doctor. Authorities said he also wrote prescriptions, including some for himself.

Officials at Agape are doing their own review of the care patients received from Addo. They said he never had sole clinical oversight of any patient.

“We have found no inappropriate diagnosis or plan of treatment. We are convinced that all of our patients are safe and receiving proper care,” Agape CEO Scott Middleton said in a statement.

Addo also worked as a contract doctor for the South Carolina Department of Mental Health, filling in for a doctor on medical leave. Officials there said they also are reviewing Addo’s care and have not found any serious issues.

Patients treated by Addo could not be located by The Associated Press for comment.

Authorities started investigating Addo after he made a small mistake on a death certificate. South Carolina health officials trying to fix the error contacted the doctor Addo was impersonating. He told them he hadn’t practiced medicine for a year in the state because he was teaching at a medical school in Ghana.

Officials have refused to release that doctor’s name, but Kennedy confirmed his identity was stolen.

Kennedy said he was betrayed by his friend. Addo also obtained credit cards in Kennedy’s name, creating an even bigger mess to clean up, the doctor said Wednesday outside his home in Orangeburg.

He said he didn’t want to answer detailed questions about what happened until he spoke to a lawyer.

Both Kennedy and Addo are from Ghana. Kennedy ran unsuccessfully for president of the west African nation in 2008. He had a family practice in Orangeburg and spent plenty of time in his homeland, pushing for public health improvements. The two men resemble each other, and Addo used Kennedy’s reputation to help get him the doctor jobs. Agape said in a statement it hired him in part because he came highly recommended.

Both Agape and Jackson & Coker, the Alpharetta, Ga., physician recruitment firm that placed Addo with the Department of Mental Health, have promised to help authorities. Metts said it could take months for investigators to go through all the medical records.

Jackson & Coker also is exploring any legal action it could take against Addo and is shocked he was able to obtain all the documents someone would need to prove he was a doctor in the United States, spokeswoman Susan Meyers said.

“He was hired the same way in several different places,” Meyers said. “There were no red flags.”

Charlotte police charge three after fake document raid www.privateofficer.com

 

CHARLOTTE, N.C. Aug 30 2012

Three people are charged with having fake documents after a raid at a south Charlotte business.

Tuesday, investigators from the Department of Motor Vehicle searched La Popular Market on South Boulevard.

They said they found license plates, title documents and receipts that were being sold illegally.

Investigators arrested the store’s owner, Felipe De Jesus Chavez.

The investigators raided another business and a home, arresting two more people.

Source:wsoc-tv

Women dupe Atlanta police numerous times in fraud scheme www.privateofficer.com

 

ATLANTA GA Aug 14 2012  (AP) — Two women walked into police precincts around Atlanta, made presentations about insurance benefit packages to groups of officers and walked out with applications filled with personal information in a brazen fraud plot, police said Monday.

Cintia Ximena Pedone-Allou, 30, and Dawnetta Patrice Underwood, 23, both of Maryland, were arrested Friday after having visited multiple police precincts in Atlanta over the previous several days, police said. At least 39 officers and other employees filled out applications, and police believe the women may have also targeted transit police and fire stations.

“Obviously, it’s pretty bold to go into a police precinct and target police officers for this,” Sgt. Paul Cooper said Monday. “Anybody can be fooled, and this is a good example. If they can get us, they can get anybody.”

A man who said he was the women’s supervisor would call the precinct and ask for the watch commander’s name, Cooper said. The man would then call that watch commander and ask if his benefits representatives were there yet. When the women arrived, they would give the desk officer the watch commander’s name and say the commander was expecting them. They would say they were from “employee benefits” and were there to sign people up for enhanced Aflac benefit packages and supplemental insurance and were then allowed to address officers gathered for roll call at the beginning of a shift.

“It was pretty detailed,” Cooper said of the scheme, “detailed enough to convince our officers it was legitimate.”

They targeted evening and early morning shifts, which start at 3 p.m. and 11 p.m., respectively, and police believe that may have been a strategy to avoid hours when human resources staff would have been available if officers or other employees had questions.

The scheme was uncovered when one lieutenant became suspicious because he said the presentation didn’t feel like a normal visit from Aflac, which provides the department’s insurance. The lieutenant kicked the women out of his precinct and contacted the personnel department. Personnel staff called Aflac and found that Aflac had no record of a relationship with the women or Employee Benefits, the Maryland-based company they said they worked for.

The women had left business cards and police reached a man who claimed to be their supervisor, who gave police the women’s cell phone numbers. Police arrested both women and recovered 39 applications. When questioned, the women were evasive and gave inconsistent and conflicting answers, police said.

It’s not entirely clear what the women planned to do with the information they gathered, Cooper said. He said it could be commission fraud, or they could be trying to submit false claims once they established policies or it could just be simple identity theft, he said. In any case, they misrepresented themselves and were not authorized to solicit that information from department employees, he said.

Police have contacted the state of Maryland and are trying to determine the status of the company Employee Benefits, which the women said was an independent insurance company. Police are also working to get information on the man who claimed to be the women’s supervisor and to possibly file charges against him as well.

The women were being held in the Fulton County jail Monday on $55,000 bond each, according to jail records. Police did not know whether they had lawyers.

Source:www.sfgate.com

Charlotte NC woman scammed government out of more than $3.8 million www.privateofficer.com

 

Charlotte NC Aug 12 2012 A Charlotte woman has been accused in a tax scheme to defraud the government of more than $3.8 million.

In court documents filed Thursday in U.S. District Court, 40-year-old Candida Mayo Figueroa was named as a suspect in the case.

Federal authorities said the U.S. Postal Service intercepted an “extraordinarily large number” of mail from the U.S. Treasury Department that appeared to contain checks going to several apartments close to one another in Charlotte. The Postal Service alerted investigators because the names on the mail were people not known to receive mail at those addresses.

Authorities said much of the mail was sent to homes in the Arrowood Crossing apartment complex in southwest Charlotte and that Figueroa had been seen pulling mail from multiple mailboxes there.

Investigators said they sent five addresses to the Internal Revenue Service, which linked 804 individual income tax returns to those addresses. There was no history of the taxpayers identified on the forms living at the homes listed, authorities said.

The fraudulent returns were filed between January and June, and the total amount of refunds claimed was $3,804,184, according to court documents.

On Wednesday, authorities searched the five homes associated with the scheme, authorities said. At Figueroa’s home, they found notebooks containing names and Social Security numbers, U.S. Treasury checks and a box containing dozens of birth certificates of Mexican origin.

Figueroa is charged with conspiracy to defraud the government. She remained in Mecklenburg jail Saturday.

Source:www.charlotteobserver.com

Kids’ identities are vulnerable going back to school www.privateofficer.com

 

ATLANTA GA Aug 11 2012 – Atlanta-based Equifax is warning parents that their children’s identities could be especially vulnerable when they go back to school.

It’s the time of year when parents are flooded with forms to fill out for school, sports and other extracurricular activities.

In some cases, you’re asked to provide your child’s social security number and yet have no way of controlling who has access to it.

“The only way to prevent it is by taking very precautionary measures because it is a very vulnerable area,” said Trey Loughran, president of the personal solutions unit at Equifax.

Loughran points to the following statistics:

According to the Federal Trade Commission, the number of reported cases of child identity theft has increased 200% over the last 10 years.

*A study by Carnegie Mellon last year showed one in 10 children have had their social security number compromised.

*Here are some warning signs: your child gets credit card offers in the mail or calls from collection agencies. If your child is turned down for a student loan, that’s another red flag.

“It’s arguably one of the most invisible crimes you can find,” Loughran said. “When a child’s identity is compromised by someone who wants to use it for fraudulent purposes, that might not be uncovered for years and years and years.”

So what can you do now to protect your children?

Loughran said you should avoid carrying your child’s social security card. Instead, lock it up. And think twice before you share the numbers.

“If someone asks for it, ask them why they need it,” he said. “Ask them if there’s not another piece of identification you can give them.”

Loughran said there’s no database listing children’s social security numbers that Equifax or other credit bureaus can use to prevent the problem.

You can run a credit report for your child.

If there’s no match, that usually means no activity, and that’s good news.

Source:news11

Former Radio Shack employee gets 6 1/2 years in federal prison for indentity theft www.privateofficer.com

 

FORT WORTH TX July 26 2012 – A former Radio Shack customer service representative was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in federal prison Monday for stealing personal information from customers that she used to file fake income tax returns to claim refunds.

Youlanda Rochelle Wright, 37, of Fort Worth was ordered to pay $166,384 in restitution. She pleaded guilty in December to charges of false claims against the United States and identity theft.

Wright, who had been on pretrial release, was taken into custody earlier this month after she violated conditions of her release, one of which was that she not be arrested for another crime. Federal court documents indicate that Wright was arrested by Fort Worth police in June on a charge of theft of $50 to $500, which she did not report to her federal supervising officer.

Wright began working for Radio Shack in the call center in 1999, according to federal authorities. She often received personal information from customers. She admitted that she used that information to file income tax returns in their names to claim refunds.

Source:www.star-telegram.com

Philadelphia IRS employee charged in identity theft scheme www.privateofficer.com

 

Philadelphia PA July 13 2012 A former employee of the Internal Revenue Service in Philadelphia was arrested Thursday after allegedly participating in an identity theft scheme.

According to an indictment, Domeen Flowers, 48, of Maitland Florida, used her position with the IRS to make unauthorized computer entries into the IRS’ Integrated Data Retrieval System. Back in 2009, investigators say Flowers gained personal information on a taxpayer who she was renting a house from in Philadelphia. She then allegedly used that information to apply for credits from different credit card companies in the victim’s name.

Flowers was arrested and charged with aggravated identity theft, unauthorized inspection of tax returns and other related offenses. Flowers first appeared at U.S. District Court in Orlando. She was released on bail pending an appearance in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia.

If convicted of all charges, Flowers faces a mandatory minimum of two years in prison with a maximum possible sentence of 46 years, maximum fine of $1,254,000, a special assessment of $900 and two years of supervised release.

Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary employee used stolen patient information www.privateofficer.com

 

 

QUINCY MA May 20 2012 — Police say a Quincy woman who worked at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and her brother used stolen patient information to open fake National Grid accounts that allowed them to dodge paying for electricity.

Fallon and Emmanuel Delacruz of 270 Quarry St. have been charged with identity theft and larceny.

Fallon Delacruz, 25, who also has a Dorchester address, was dismissed from her job after police made her employer aware of the investigation. A police report on file in Quincy District Court says Delacruz worked as a patient financial coordinator.

Mass. Eye and Ear has offered one year of free credit monitoring to potentially affected patients, and sent mail notifications to about 3,600 patients whose Social Security numbers Delacruz was able to access.

“We are saddened and disappointed that this former employee appears to have chosen to violate both our trust and that of our patients,” Mass. Eye and Ear president and CEO John Fernandez said in a statement. “We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience and concern caused by this incident.”

The statement said Mass. Eye and Ear has taken steps to further restrict its staff members’ access to complete Social Security numbers, and will regularly reinforce the importance of safeguarding patient information.

Fallon and Emmanuel Delacruz are due back in Quincy District Court court in June and July for pretrial hearings.

Quincy District Court issued a criminal complaint against them last month, but they failed to appear in court to be arraigned. Warrants were issued for both, and they were arrested in Quincy and Boston on April 21 and April 27 and later arraigned.

Both are charged with three counts of identity fraud and three counts of larceny over $250 by false impersonation.

John F. Stevens, listed in court documents as attorney for Emmanuel Delacruz, could not be reached for comment.

The Quincy police investigation began in January when a West Boylston woman reported that she had received notice from a collection agency that she owed $1,529 in past-due electric bills. The bills were in her name, but listed the address of the Quarry Street apartment building where Delacruz was later found to be living.

The West Boylston woman told police she never lived in Quincy and never opened an account with a Quincy address. She said National Grid told her that her Social Security number had been used to open the account, which was active from January to April before being closed.

Detective Tom Pepdjonovic of the Quincy Police Department determined Emmanuel and Fallon Delacruz were leasing the Quincy apartment that was listed on the West Boylston woman’s bill, and that National Grid had no record of people named Delacruz living at

According to a police report, National Grid said it had four names listed as customers at the Quincy apartment, including that of the West Boylston woman.

Pepdjonovic spoke with two other people National Grid had listed at the address, one a Connecticut resident and the other a New Hampshire resident, the police report states.

“(T)he only similarity I noticed was that they were both patients at Mass. Eye & Ear at some point in their lives,” Pepdjonovic wrote in the report. “I re-contacted (the West Boylston woman) and asked her if she was ever a patient of Mass. Eye & Ear before and she informed me that (she) has been.”

Police allege that Emmanuel Delacruz participated with his sister in the scam, which was designed to avoid paying for electricity by having National Grid send bills to other addresses.
Police said when the bills were not paid, the false account would be closed and a new one opened with a different person’s information.

Source:www.patriotledger.com

Former Motor Vehicle Commission given prison for selling driver’s licenses to unauthorized people www.privateofficer.com

 

Lodi NJ May 19 2012 Former Motor Vehicle Commission in Lodi Clerk Anne Marie Manfredonia, 44, of Little Ferry, received a four-year prison term on May 10 for selling driver’s licenses to unauthorized people.

In December, state officials announced that 40 people, including six former Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) clerks, 21 customers, 13 brokers and other intermediaries, were indicted for participating in criminal rings that illegally sold New Jersey digital driver’s licenses to unauthorized persons at five local motor vehicle agencies.

“We have zero tolerance for corrupt motor vehicle clerks who can undermine public safety through their access to personal information and their ability to issue driver’s licenses,” said Attorney General Paula T. Dow. “We know criminals seek black market driver’s licenses to commit identity theft and fraud, and on 9/11, the terrorists used licenses from other states to help them carry out their deadly plots. We will continue to work with the Motor Vehicle Commission and New Jersey State Police to maintain maximum vigilance and aggressively prosecute these cases.”

Allegedly, the indicted MVC clerks and brokers conspired together to sell digital New Jersey driver’s licenses to those who did not have the required six points of identification. Manfredonia was charged in connection with a case where a digital license was sold to an undercover investigator posing as an undocumented immigrant. State prosecutors allege Manfredonia worked with brokers and runners who brought her customers willing to pay up to $7,000 per license. Manfredonia was sentenced in Hackensack.

“We want to send a forceful deterrent message to those who broker illegal sales of driver’s licenses and to clerks who might be motivated by greed to sell out the trust placed in them. They will be subject to lengthy prison terms,” said Criminal Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor. “We urge the public to report criminals involved in the fraudulent identification market, who typically exploit the immigrant community, ripping off individuals seeking licenses and subjecting them to serious criminal charges.”

Source:northjersey.com

65 Seattle University students busted with fake ID’s from China www.privateofficer.com

 

SEATTLE WA May 11 2012 – Dozens of Seattle University students nearly became felons after Homeland Security got wind of a massive fake ID buy at the school.

College students in the market for a fake ID no longer have to go into a back room with a lamination machine and a bad photo. There’s much easier ways now, but 65 Seattle University students recently came to realize that the easy way isn’t always the right way.

Finding a website that sells fake IDs online has become easier and easier as technology has involved. But just as students are using the Internet to break the law, law enforcement is using it to catch them.

That’s what happened last month, when Homeland Security officers tracked a package from China heading to Seattle.

“That contained suspicious item that turned out to be fraudulent driver’s licenses,” said Michael Sletten, the school’s Campus Safety Coordinator.

A single student brought at least 64 other friends together for a massive fake ID buying binge.

“They were being shipped to a residence hall here on campus,” Sletten said.

Homeland Security carefully watched the delivery and helped the school catch the students.

“A lot of people got busted,” said student AJ Reza.

Even with all the negative attention, classmates say fake IDs are a part of the culture.

“Two thirds of my friends have fake Ids,” said freshman Katarina Juarez.

The problem of fake IDs on college campuses is far from a new thing, but the web has made it much easier to get closer to the real thing.

“But it’s harder at the same time because you have to be really careful to make sure that it looks legit,” Reza said.

The 65 students could have ended up as felons for importing fake IDs from overseas. In the end, Customs and Border Protection decided to let the school fine and sanction the students instead of making a federal case out of it.

The school couldn’t reveal the exact punishment for each student, but they included community service, fines, suspensions and writing research papers about forgery.

source-komo.com

Kohl’s Credit Center employee is facing felony charges www.privateofficer.com

 

Waukesha County WI May 10 2012 A 22-year-old Kohl’s Credit Center employee is facing felony charges after she used her position to steal personal identification of a customer in order to apply for her own credit cards and loans.

Jymea L. Holmes was charged in Waukesha County Circuit Court Thursday with five counts of identity theft for financial gain. If convicted, she faces up to 30 years in prison and $50,000 in fines.

According to the criminal complaint:

In October 2011, a Brooklyn, New York woman contacted police after she discovered someone had applied for credit cards and a loan using her name and the attempts were made from a location in Menomonee Falls. Although the woman’s name and other information was used, Holmes’ address was listed to the applications.

Holmes told police she worked in the credit center and had assisted the victim in September 2011, when she decided to write down all of the woman’s personal identification and use it to apply for credit cards.

Holmes will make her initial appearance in court June 18.

US Marine arrested for stealing -selling identities of fellow soldiers www.privateofficer.com

 

Broward Fla May 9 2012 A U.S. Marine from North Miami was arrested Tuesday on charges of selling the stolen identities of dozens of fellow soldiers in Afghanistan to a Broward County woman recently convicted of filing false income-tax returns in their names.

Jobson Cenor, a 2007 graduate of North Miami Senior High, was arrested at Camp LeJeune in North Carolina by agents for the FBI and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

His case is the latest twist among an ever-growing number of tax-fraud schemes prosecuted in South Florida.

Cenor, 22, is accused of selling the names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers of fellow Marines to Dorothy Boulin, a Coral Springs woman convicted in a related case of seeking to collect tens of thousands of dollars in the names of Marines and other tax-fraud victims.

Boulin told FBI agents that she and Cenor “agreed to split the proceeds from the fraudulent filings,” according to a criminal complaint.

Based at Camp Leatherneck in Afghanistan, Cenor used his Apple iPad to send text messages and emails to Boulin with the names of other Marines in December and January, according to a criminal complaint. He called himself “CJ Da Boss” in most of the correspondence.

When NCIS agents did a search of Cenor’s quarters at Camp Leatherneck, they seized a list containing the names and Social Security numbers of 44 U.S. Marines, according to the criminal complaint. Of those, 21 were on lists found by FBI agents in Boulin’s residence when they arrested her in February.

Boulin, 29, pleaded guilty in April to stealing the identities of several Marines and committing fraud in her scheme to dupe the Internal Revenue Service into sending her tax refunds on pre-paid debit cards. She faces up to 22 years in prison.

Boulin, who cooperated with authorities as part of a plea agreement, led the FBI to Cenor. At the FBI’s direction, in February she spoke to Cenor by phone in Creole, discussing how she had started filing some of the tax returns using the “identities” provided by Cenor, according to the criminal complaint.

Boulin told Cenor that some of the names were rejected by the IRS. Of those accepted, she said, Cenor “was going to get half of the tax refund money, or approximately $54,000,” the complaint said.

“Cenor said [Boulin] could hold the money until Cenor returned from Afghanistan.”

Now in custody, Cenor is expected to be transferred to Miami federal court to face charges of fraud.

In her plea agreement, Boulin admitted she “received a list of military personnel” serving in the Marines from someone identified only as “C.J.” in a court document. The list included the soldiers’ personal data.

At her home computer, Boulin used an electronic IRS number — normally issued to legitimate tax preparers — to file false returns in the names of at least 14 people, including “several” Marines serving in Afghanistan, according to the document. The bogus returns, processed in January with an online tax-filing company called OLT PRO, sought about $54,000 in refunds from the IRS, which assisted with the investigation.

The FBI infiltrated Boulin’s operation using a confidential informant who pretended to prepare tax refunds with her, according to court records.

Boulin provided the informant with more than 100 photocopies of stolen driver licenses and Social Security cards, as well as printouts of more than 200 names, birth dates and Social Security numbers.

Boulin expected to be paid 20 percent of the money that the informant would obtain from filing the bogus returns using a tax software program.

The Boulin-Cenor case parallels another tax-related fraud investigation: Last week, the FBI wrapped up an undercover operation that resulted in fraud charges against a pair of National Football League veterans and a Miami Jackson High graduate who played football at Syracuse University.

SC Health and Human Services employee stole 228,435 Medicaid recipients’ personal information www.privateofficer.com

 

COLUMBIA, SC April 21 2012  – The personal information of more than 228,000 Medicaid recipients in South Carolina has been stolen by a former state Department of Health and Human Services employee, according to DHHS and the State Law Enforcement Division.
SLED says 36-year-old Christopher Lykes was able to make off with 228,435 Medicaid recipients’ personal information by emailing the information to his personal Yahoo email account.

The information contained names, addresses, and Social Security numbers — information the Lykes had access to and the agency trusted him with.

Most of the people impacted by the security breach live in Richland, Lexington, Barnwell, Orangeburg, Allendale, and Bamberg counties.

Lykes has been charged with five counts of Medically Indigent Act confidentiality violations and one count of disclosure of confidential information.

Lykes, a resident of Swansea, is active in politics. He is listed as the Lexington County Democrat Party’s executive committee. A 2011 SCStatehouse.gov online report shows that Lykes was one of two members of the statewide Democrat Party, serving as an executive committeeman.

Kathryn Hensley, a representative of the Lexington Democratic Party, says Lykes is not currently an officer of the county party, but said he had been one of the Lexington members on the state executive committee.

DHHS Director Tony Keck says the investigation started in January and ended three weeks ago. They found out about the scheme after conducting employee performance reviews.

“The information was not readily available, but it was available to him through a normal reporting process and that’s where we’ve identified a security lapse that the department was not sufficiently requiring employees to justify their need for that information,” Keck said. “That is fairly easy lapse to close and we’ve done that.”

Keck says he called Lykes in on April 10 and fired him, then turned the information over to SLED.

SLED has Lykes’ home computer and is working to track down where the information went and hopefully why this employee wanted it in the first place.

“Agents have now taken possession of his work computer and also the employee’s personal computer. At this time, we know of at least one other party who has received data from this former employee and this transfer is part of this ongoing investigation,” SLED Director Mark Keel said.

SLED served a search warrant on Yahoo, asking for Lykes’ email records. Investigators said they’re trying to figure out where the Medicaid information went and who else may be involved.

Investigators said Lykes could also face federal charges in connection to the case. SLED continues investigating and working to determine a motive in the case.

Source: WIS