BAY VILLAGE, OH (WOIO) -
On June 10, 2010, a Bay Village resident reported her
checking account number had been compromised and utilized on a number of
fabricated checks. These fabricated
checks were cashed at local banks by various individuals for a total of
$43,000. Bay Village Police Department
began an investigation which exposed a much larger fraud enterprise. Bay Village Police worked cooperatively with
many bank fraud investigators, the U. S. Secret Service and other law
enforcement agencies and identified losses totaling $415,828.00 at four
separate banking institutions.
As a
result of this extensive investigation, eighteen individuals were arrested and
indicted by the Cuyahoga County Grand Jury for the Identity Theft ring.
Between May 2010 and August 2010, these individuals were
making unauthorized withdrawals and "split deposits" on legitimate victim's
account at multiple branch locations throughoutCleveland, Akron and
Youngstown. The individuals obtained
high quality forged Ohio driver's licenses of the legitimate account
owners. They also possessed the bank
account information of the victims and were able to use the fake identification
to access the account and withdraw large sums of cash.
Investigation identified the individuals who operated the
identity theft ring and recruited others to make the bank withdrawals. Several search warrants were executed at
residences and storage facilities.
Thousands of dollars' worth of merchandise that had been fraudulently
purchased was located. In addition,
computer equipment, fake ID making material, and bank account information was
discovered.
The sixteen individuals indicted by the Grand Jury
were: Brian Lumbus of Maple Heights,
Glen Chatman of Euclid, Minnie Drummer of Cleveland, Montrea Donaldson of
Cleveland, Anthony Houston of Cleveland, Tierra Brooks of Cleveland, Talanda
Wood of Cleveland, Malisha Anderson of Maple Heights, Grant Johnson of
Cleveland, Colby Franklin of Cleveland, Eric Cammon of Cleveland, Angela Taylor
of Euclid, Gwendolyn White of Cleveland, Kristel Bennett of Cleveland,
Christopher McCaskey of Cleveland, and Julianna Paszter of Cleveland.
Two other subjects who assisted in the identity theft
operation were arrested and indicated in Cincinnati. These two individuals are Ashlee Goodwin and Jaques
Sanders, both of Cincinnati.
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