Updated at 11:19 a.m., Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Shopping spree leads to arrest for ID theft, forgery
Advertiser Staff
A 32-year-old O'ahu woman was arrested yesterday on suspicion of multiple financial fraud offenses in connection with a mid-December buying spree in which she allegedly used the identity of a 34-year-old woman to "purchase" nearly $9,500 worth of goods.Police said the woman made purchases from a jewelry store on Dec. 14 and a hardware store twice on Dec. 18.
Police said the woman went to the jewelry store, posed as the older woman and presented Identity cards using the other woman's name.
The woman filled out a credit card in the other woman's name and was issued a credit card number, police said.
They said the woman then used the credit card number to make "purchases" amounting to $2,938.34 from the jewelry store.
Four days later, the woman went to a hardware store, used essentially the same procedure and bought two rounds of merchandise, the first amounting to $1,490.12 and the second to $5,010.80.
Police launched an investigation and identified a suspect in the case who was wanted on a traffic warrant.
Investigators were following up on witness statements yesterday when they spotted the woman on Pukuloa Street in the Mapunapuna area and arrested her on suspicion of three counts of making false statements to obtain a credit card; three counts of unauthorized possession of confidential personal information; three counts of ID theft; four counts of second-degree forgery; three counts of second-degree theft; and a traffic warrant.
