Police Suspect Personal Care Assistant In ID Theft Investigation
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Minneapolis Police say at least 36 people are the victims of a recently discovered identity theft ring that was operating in the metro area.
On Wednesday, investigators in the financial crimes unit displayed many of the stolen items and forged documents that are causing theft victims to scramble to repair the damage.
In the police conference room, Minneapolis Police Sgt. Dave Mattson pointed to a tabletop covered in fraudulent checks, stolen driver's licenses and credit cards.
The trail of suspected identity theft was discovered when the client of a personal care assistant reported her credit card was stolen and being used by for fraudulent purchases.
"We came to this jewelry store in Minneapolis where these photos were taken of people using this person's stolen credit card," Mattson said.
Mattson said the woman's credit card was used to ring up $3,000 in gold necklaces from Kim's Jewelry in south Minneapolis.
Surveillance photos from the store's security cameras helped identify the culprits -- the woman's personal care assistant and her male friend. (Neither has been formally charged with any crimes related to this investigation.)
Later search warrants uncovered a treasure trove of stolen charge cards, checks and victim's I.D's. Most of which are believed stolen in burglaries, vehicle break-ins and thefts of wallets and purses.
Mattson added that the male suspect "was going to public websites to obtain full information including driver license numbers, addresses and social security numbers, etc."
That information was in turn used to alter checks and phony licenses. The doctored driver licenses each included the man's picture but with other people's names and addresses.
The fake licenses were then used to pass fraudulent checks at area casinos, one for as much as $4,000 in cash.
Police say this is an ongoing investigation and they believe there will be more victims. However, they can't say if there will be other in-home patients who were victims or simply people who lost wallets and purses.
To make matters more difficult for victims, some of them are already getting letters demanding payments for charges they never made.
