CT man charged with 200 counts of fraud, identity theft, forgery www.privaeofficer.com

 

VERNON CT April 20 2012

A man with a record of assaulting woman, stalking woman and trying to drug women for sex was charged Tuesday with more than 200 counts of fraud, forgery and identify theft.

Robert W. Gross, 59, is accused of stealing three credit cards from two real estate agents with whom he had set up appointments to see houses. He told the agents, both women, that he was wealthy. One showed him houses along the shoreline and another homes in West Hartford.

In one case, one of the agents later told police, she was alone with Gross in the basement of an empty house when she got what she described as a “strange feeling.” She told Gross she would wait for him outside. She later dodged Gross’ calls and text message, she told police, because she was concerned.

In Gross’ 27-year criminal record, he has been convicted of exposing himself while holding a knife in front of a female real estate agent and calling a female interior decorator to his house, grabbing her and clamping his hand over her mouth before she escaped. He also has served time for scheming to molest a financial consultant and two other professional women in Vernon.

More recently, Gross was in prison for probation violations and stalking convictions after acting on his compulsion for women in professional attire and their feet, in Buckland Hills Mall. He approached one woman in a department store, telling her she had beautiful feet; she fled. In another instance, he was found on his hands and knees admiring a woman’s feet. He claimed he was looking for shoes.

After allegedly stealing the credit cards from the real estate agents, he ran up thousands of dollars in charges at area motels, and charging everything from a watch at a Vernon jewelry store to meals at area restaurants and liquor, according to police. When officers caught up with Gross at a Vernon motel, he was driving a 2003 Subaru, and the car was confiscated and the dealer repossessed it because the check Gross wrote for the car bounced, according to a warrant for Gross’ arrest.

In a confession to Vernon Det. Steve Sartor, Gross acknowledged stealing the credit cards from the real estate agents, according to the warrant. He told Sartor he had lost his job and needed to support himself.

Gross is already jailed on credit card theft charges from other communities.

Vernon Det. Don Skewes wrote in the warrant for Gross’ arrest that Gross made fraudulent charges in excess of $13,000. He faces 72 counts of identity theft, 72 counts of credit card fraud, 72 counts of second-degree forgery and a single count of third-degree larceny.

Baptist Hospital employee receives prison term in identity theft cases www.privateofficer.com

Montgomery AL May 8 2010 Adrienne Denise Stovall, 30, a former employee of a Montgomery area hospital, has been sentenced to 24 months and 1 day in federal prison for wire fraud and stealing the identities of patients, according to a press release from U.S. Attorney Leura G. Canary’s office.

Stovall was also sentenced to serve 4 years of supervised release upon completion of her prison sentence, the release states. The court also ordered Stovall to pay restitution.

According to the release, Stovall pled guilty on January 29 to one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. By law, the aggravated identity theft conviction carries a mandatory sentence of 24 months, which must be served consecutive to the wire fraud sentence, according to the release.
From August 2006 through early 2007, Stovall worked at Baptist Hospital in Montgomery, Ala., the release states.

Stovall’s position gave her access to Baptist Health’s computer system, which contained
confidential patient information, such as the names of patients, their dates of birth and social security numbers. Without lawful authority, Stovall used this information to apply for credit or credit cards over the internet from her work computer, according to a press release.

According to a press release, at the time of her guilty plea, Stovall admitted she used the true name, date of birth, and social security number of a patient on an electronic application for credit with Cato in October 2006.

According to the release, Stovall listed her mailing address as the applicants’ mailing address and submitted the application over the internet. The application was received in Charlotte, North Carolina.

When confronted by investigators, Stovall cooperated with law enforcement, the release states.

Child support agent arrested for stealing identification info www.privateofficer.com

NASHVILLE, Tenn. April 10 2009(AP) – A former employee of a state contractor is accused of selling Social Security and bank account numbers to an undercover agent.
The U.S. Attorney’s office in Nashville says 28-year-old Steven K. Gilmore of Nashville was indicted Wednesday on identity theft, aggravated identity theft and access device fraud.
Gilmore worked for Denver, Colo.-based Policy Studies Inc., a company that contracts with the Department of Human Services to provide child support services for Davidson County.
The Tennessean reported that, in his role collecting child support, Gilmore had access to databases filled with personal identification information.

His indictment charges that since October he had sold more than a thousand stolen Social Security numbers and corresponding bank account numbers.

JOIN THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF PRIVATE OFFICERS
http://www.privateofficer.com/

Get news alerts, officer down, weather emergency news in your mailbox! Sign up;adminassist@privateofficer.com

Join us at http://www.myspace.com/privateofficernews

Come be part of our social network! http://www.privateofficer.com

Baptist employee charged with stealing patient identities www.privateofficer.com

Baptist Hospital employee charged with stealing patient identities www.privateofficer.com

LITTLE ROCK Ark July 4 2008 A North Little Rock woman has been arrested for using financial information from patients at Baptist Health to illegally obtain Wal-Mart gift cards for her own use. The hospital has notified about 1,800 patrons of the ID theft.
Officials say 30-year-old Tamara Hill was fired in early June after being arrested at a Wal-Mart store on 25 counts of identity fraud.
Police say Hill worked in the emergency department at Baptist Health Medical Center-North Little Rock.
The patient notification, which was reported today by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, followed Hill’s arrest.
Baptist Health spokesman Mark Lowman confirmed that Hill was fired after the hospital system learned of her arrest.
A second woman, 25-year-old Ebony Flowers, was arrested on three counts of identity fraud. Flowers worked as a janitor for the North Little Rock School District.
Police reports say the women used information from the patients to get account authorization numbers for credit cards that they would use to purchase Wal-Mart gift cards.
Baptist Health’s operations in Arkansas also include Baptist Health Medical Center hospital in Little Rock and hospitals in Arkadelphia, Heber Springs and North Little Rock.
In a letter to patients, the hospital warned that their “name, address, date of birth, Social Security number, and reason for coming to Baptist Health, was accessed by an unauthorized person.”

Get news alerts, officer down, weather emergency news in your mailbox! Sign up;adminassist@privateofficer.com
Join us at www.myspace.com/privateofficernews

Come be part of our social network! http://www.privateofficer.com

Couple evicted from home because of identity theft www.privateofficer.com

Couple evicted from home because of identity theft http://www.privateofficer.com

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – May 18 2008 A Spring Hill couple thought they were paying their mortgage every month until they came home and found a lock on the door. It was a huge shock for Ami Hobgood.
Not only were the impersonal items, such as electronics and furniture outside, but also the personal things like pictures and underwear and things you just don’t want people to see. There was stuff every where. It looked like a tornado hit our house,” said Hobgood
A sheriff’s deputy tapped an eviction notice taped to their door, and their bank foreclosed on the home.
“The only documentation we have regarding the foreclosure at all is right there on the door,” said Hobgood.
After a phone call to their mortgage company, they found out that a notice of the foreclosure had been printed in the paper three separate times, but they never saw it.
Also, a certified letter was sent to their home.
“We’re not here during the day. They said they sent a certified letter. They said they did, but we weren’t here to sign for it,” said Ami Hobgood
She said she wrote the mortgage company a check every month and saw money being withdrawn from the account.
It turns out that someone stole her identity and was cashing in.
Unknown to her, those checks to the mortgage company bounced.
“Someone had been siphoning funds from our account that we were using to pay the mortgage and someone opened two credit cards, which $20,000 had been charged,” said Seth Hobgood.
By law the mortgage company did everything required to notify the couple of the foreclosure, but the couple said it wasn’t enough.
“You could just have three ads in a paper that you never read, and a certified piece of mail that never gets to you, and your stuff is in the yard, and you are out of a house,” said Seth Hobgood.
The bank is going to reimburse the couple for the fraudulent charges to their account.
But it’s not clear if anything can be done about the foreclosure on their home.
They are seeking legal advice from an attorney to figure out what to do next.

Email us/adminassist@privateofficer.com

Join us/myspace.com/privateofficernews

Be part of our social community! http://www.privateofficer.com

Former FEMA worker pleads guilty to identity theft www.privateofficer.com

Former FEMA worker pleads guilty to identity theft http://www.privateofficer.com

Washington D.C. April 8 2008

By: Bryan Hill

Security News Magazinie

www.privateofficer.com

Some say that justice was not served and others agree in anger and frustration. They’re talking about the guilty plea in Federal court in Washington DC of Robert Davis, 44 of southeast D.C. who admitted in court that while employed by FEMA, he took advantage of at least 200 people including at least 30 who were Hurricane Karina victims. He plead guilty of stealing their identity, fraudulently opening credit accounts in their names and charging at least $156,000.

Davis used the identities of at least 74 victims to open accounts with the Home Shopping Network, QVC and others. Some items he received included diamond jewelry, designer watches and digital cameras.

The U.S. Attorney says Davis stole the identities while working as a FEMA human services specialist. About 30 of his scams involved victims of natural disasters.
Davis also worked as a clerk for various mortgage companies in the District.
After obtaining personal information, Davis called retailers and opened credit accounts in their names..
For all of his ill deeds and broken lives and heartaches that he left behind him, Davis agreed to a plea deal which found him guilty of one count of aggravated identity theft and one count of wire fraud. He could have easily been charged with at least 200 counts of each and faced life in prison. Instead, he received a bargin on Friday from the prosecutor’s office and now only faces four to seven years whn he’s sentenced in June.
With good behavior and early release, that amounts to less than two years behind bars.

The U.S. Attorney’s office said in their press release that is was a good sentence for Davis’s crimes and a win for the victims. It sounds like it was good for their office and a win for them.

Email Us/ adminassist@privateofficer.com

Send news, comments or questions

Join Us/myspace.com/privateofficernews

Be Part of our New Social Network—Join now! www.privateofficer.com

Radio Shack employee steals police ID’s www.privateofficer.com

PEEKSKILL, N.Y.  Nov.8 2007 - A female clerk at a Peekskill Radio Shack store and a civilian employee for the NYPD have been arrested for allegedly running an identity-theft ring that victimized 10 New York City police officers. Peekskill Detective Sergeant Eric Johansen says the officers worked for a Bronx housing unit. Their personal information was used to acquire credits cards at the Radio Shack. The cards were then used to buy $10,000 high-end items at the store, including televisions, cell phones and digital cameras, that was then resold.

Police have charged the store clerk, 19-year-old Candace Johnson-Davis of Yonkers with grand larceny. The NYPD employee – 20-year-old Laquaja Price of the Bronx – is charged with identity theft and grand larceny.

Police say three others face charges of identity theft, grand larceny and possessing stolen property.

Store Employee Rips Off 35 Identities From Customers www.privateofficer.com

Long Island N.Y. Oct. 26, 2007

A Verizon employee at a Green Acres Mall store in Valley Stream racked up about $2,400 on fraudulently obtained credit cards after stealing at least 35 customers’ identities, authorities said yesterday.
Durraine M. Dunn, 26, of 117-11 169th St., Jamaica, pleaded not guilty in a Hempstead courtroom yesterday, a day after her arrest on fraud and forgery charges. She is being held on bail of $120,000 bond or $60,000 cash. Police said Dunn swiped the information while working as a trusted customer representative at the wireless provider’s store”The victims in this case did nothing wrong,” Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice said. “They went to a legitimate store and gave the information required to open an account and purchase a cell phone.”
Manhattan-based Verizon Communications launched an internal probe to determine what happened and is working with authorities, said David Samberg, a spokesman for the wireless company. Det. Sgt. Thomas Reilly of Nassau’s Crimes Against Property Squad said investigators believe Dunn stole identities only of customers she helped – not any from the wireless provider’s customer database.During routine transactions, Dunn dealt with picture identification cards and Social Security numbers as well as birth dates, police said.Dunn used the information to apply for credit cards she had sent to her Jamaica address, officials said. She charged gift cards, shoes, air conditioners and flat-screen televisions, Reilly said. Authorities began investigating Dunn after a Maryland man filed an Aug. 17 missing-wallet report with the Port Authority at Kennedy Airport.Transactions made with the unidentified man’s credit card were traced to a shoe store at Green Acres Mall. An employee of the store who recognized Dunn said she made the purchase. A search warrant served at Dunn’s home Tuesday turned up numerous forged credit card applications and customers’ personal information, authorities said.Customers of the Verizon store and of a Sprint store at Green Acres, where Dunn worked more than a year, should have their credit reviewed, Rice said. She also urged customers to call Nassau’s identity theft hotline at 516-571-0677.
Alisa Madden, 30, of Lynbrook, ran a credit check after reading about the fraud on Newsday.com, and everything appeared OK. She had purchased a cell phone at the mall’s Verizon store in August. “It makes me feel violated,” she said. You take for granted all the information you put out here until something like this happens.”

email comments, questions or news to; adminassist@privateofficer.com

JOIN THE FASTEST GROWING SECURITY ASSOCIATION RIGHT NOW FOR JUST $35!
www.privateofficer.com
THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF PRIVATE OFFICERS