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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, May 9, 2009

Suspected ID thief arrested


Advertiser Staff

Police have arrested a Kailua woman who allegedly stole $160,773 by taking out credit cards and bank cards using the identities of 11 people.

Susan E. Shaw, 35, of a Kaipiha Street address, was booked for investigation of first-degree identity theft. Charges are pending.

Officers arrested Shaw Thursday at the Honolulu airport as she returned from California.

A police affidavit submitted to District Court said that in some cases, Shaw applied for credit cards in other people's names and got their mail by submitting change-of-address forms to the post office. The mail would be routed to a new address — not hers — and Shaw would periodically check the mailbox to see if the new credit cards had arrived, the affidavit said.

In one case, she allegedly took out five credit cards using one victim's identity and racked up $24,975 in charges.

Shaw had access to a database of financial and personal information through her work at a local mortgage business, police said.

The activity took place from April 2008 to this month, the affidavit said. Police opened cases into 151 alleged offenses, including theft, identity theft, forgery and fraudulent use of credit cards, it said.

A search of her home following her arrest turned up 63 gift cards and clothes — some with the tags still on — bought with the allegedly fraudulent cards, the affidavit said. Ten days before her arrest, an officer reported seeing her return home from a shopping trip and make four trips into the house, each time with shopping bags in both hands.

Shaw would hop from victim to victim as the people discovered the fraudulent cards and canceled them, the affidavit said.

Store clerks in a number of instances picked Shaw out of a photo lineup, the affidavit said. In addition, she is seen using the fraudulent cards in security video at stores and at ATMs, the affidavit said.