Arrests made in ID theft case

[cashlenders]

An investigation into hundreds of cases of identity theft around the greater Houston area culminated in the arrest of 38 people. The arrests were the result of a yearlong investigation by Austin County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Kyle Fredericksen, Austin County District Attorney Travis Koehn and investigators and officials with other area law enforcement agencies.

“It affected hundreds of people in Brazoria and Fort Bend counties, a few in Austin County and others in the greater Houston area,” Fredericksen said.

The cases centered on fraudulent payday loans taken out by the alleged offenders over the Internet in other people’s names. The proceeds from the loans were deposited into bank accounts that were opened around the Houston area.

“There were five victims in Austin County,” Fredericksen said. “Some of them had multiple loans taken out in their name.”

One of the arrested suspects, Barbara Guinn, allegedly recruited people in Houston to open bank accounts, paying them off after the money was deposited, according to Fredericksen.

Two others arrested in the case, Tracy Spencer-Gilmore and Chante Monique Small allegedly stole information from their employers and provided that information to alleged ring leader Wesley Dixon. Gilmore was employed by Kelsey-Seybold Clinic and Small was employed by HCA-Clear Lake Regional Medical Center.

That information was used to take out the initial loans.

“These people were stealing the identities and giving them to Dixon, and he would get online with their identities and take out loans,” Fredericksen said. “These payday loans were relatively small, amounting to anywhere from $200 to $800.”

Once the money was deposited, Dixon would allegedly withdraw it and the account would go dormant.

“This guy had a streamline operation,” Fredericksen said. “He had an office set up in his home, and that is what he did for a living, he ripped people off.”

Investigators first heard about the scam after being contacted by the loan companies, who went to withdraw the amount loaned to individuals a few weeks after the loans were made - as per the loan agreement - but found the bank accounts empty.

The companies then sent letters to the individuals whose names the loans were in, but those individuals, who knew nothing about the situation, most likely threw those letters away, according to Fredericksen.

“They’d get theses letters in the mail and they’d throw them away, thinking, ‘I don’t know anything about this,’” he said.

After the third or fourth letter, though, they’d begin calling the loan company with questions.

Although Fredericksen has never seen an identity theft case of this magnitude, cases such as this happen every day, he said.

People can protect themselves by paying attention to any letters they get in the mail alerting them of loans they need to pay back but know nothing about. The sooner they deal with the issue, the better.

Another way to protect oneself is to check credit reports at least once a year.

“If these people would have checked their credit reports, it wouldn’t have prevented it from happening, but they would have found out about (the fraudulent loans) sooner,” Fredericksen said.

The loan companies removed the loans from victims’ credit reports.

“Luckily, the loan companies worked with us, but it just took a long time, because there were so many of them,” he said.