'Career criminal' busted
By Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writer
A woman who is accused of identity theft and fraud enlisted her friends to pick through Kaimuki mailboxes in search of personal information, police said. She then forged checks and created fraudulent credit lines to pay for crystal methamphetamine, police said.
Police arrested the 30-year-old woman, whom they characterized as a "career criminal," on charges of theft, forgery, and identity theft yesterday. They took her into custody after searching her Kaimuki residence. Police declined to say why the woman became a suspect in the thefts.
Police said the woman was responsible for stealing more than $50,000. The woman has been committing identity theft and other fraud for at least the past 10 years, police said.
The case is unrelated to an ongoing investigation into a ring of six identity thieves currently operating on O'ahu.
The woman paid her friends to steal mail from Kaimuki mailboxes, police said. The group looked for documents that contain information such as bank account numbers and Social Security numbers.
The woman set up a "fraud factory" in her home, police said, and used a computer, color printer, scanner, laminator and digital cameras to manufacture fake IDs. She used the cards to get fake credit cards taken out in other people's names or to cash counterfeit checks, police said.
She enlisted four of her "drug friends," whom police said were promised money in exchange for stolen mail. Police said the woman's friends would target mailboxes with outgoing mail because they believed them most likely to contain personal information.
The woman has not been charged and the case is still pending. According to the Hawai'i Criminal Justice Data Center, the woman has 11 prior convictions, including three felony convictions for forgery and a fraud charge. Police said the woman is currently a defendant in 11 separate felony trials.
Police did not say what would become of the four friends. Police said U.S. postal inspectors are looking at the case to determine if it can be prosecuted on the federal level.
The arrest is the latest in what police say is an alarming trend of drug users using identity theft and fraud to feed their habits.
"Crystal methamphetamine is at the base of all our criminal activity, and especially in financial fraud," said Detective Elizabeth Merrill, a financial fraud investigator.
Late last year, state and federal law enforcement officers took down four of the largest and most elaborate fake-ID factories ever found on O'ahu. The four factories were rooted out by patrol officers and detectives with the Honolulu Police Department's financial crimes unit searching hotel rooms and other locations in Waikiki and downtown during October and November.
Based on the evidence recovered, police said hundreds of people were victims.
Most of the material needed to make fake IDs and counterfeit checks — from the plastic cards to the "Hawaii" holograms — can be bought at office supply stores or over the Internet, police said.
Reach Peter Boylan at 535-8110 or pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.
