Crime Time

Police suspect identity theft in Weatherford

Investigators are piecing together an identity theft case involving unauthorized use of a woman’s credit card in Weatherford, according to a news release from Sgt. Wendy Field, police spokeswoman.

The woman told police on Nov. 27 that she lost the card, but since then, it was used make "multiple unauthorized charges" at the Walmart and Murphy’s USA, both on Main Street in Weatherford, Field said.

Investigators have released Walmart surveillance images of a woman (shown here) who may have used the card.

Anyone with information about the case can call police at 817-598-4300 or Parker County Crime Stoppers at 817-599-5555 or 800-942-STOP.

-- Bill Miller

Busted: Woman used ID theft to pay for breast implants

Her plan went bust, you might say.

A 30-year-old woman in Orange County, Calif., has been sentenced to six months in jail for using a fraudulent line of credit to obtain $12,000 in cosmetic surgery, including breast implants.

She had pleaded guilty to burglary, grand theft and identity theft. She also got three years' probation and was ordered to make restitution, the Associated Press reported.

-- Lance Murray

Police: Woman stole identity to pay for breast implants

It was a vanity scam -- a sort-of "I'd rather look good than be good" ripoff.

Police in Huntington Beach, Calif., are looking for a 30-year-old woman who they said stole someone else's identity and used it open a line of credit so that she could have breast enhancement surgery and liposuction -- $12,000 worth of work in all.

Police say the woman lied to her doctor and the staff at Pacific Center for Plastic Surgery and they became concerned when she didn't return for follow-up treatment. They notified police.

An arrest warrant was issued last week for her arrest on charges of identity theft, grand theft and commercial burglary. If caught, will she have to give the implants back?

-- Lance Murray

Police: Surveillance images show credit card theft suspect

Has anyone noticed just how good surveillance cameras have become nowadays?

Case in point, check out these surveillance photos released by Fort Worth police today of a man leaving the Target store at 5700 Overton Ridge Blvd. in southwest Fort Worth on Feb. 26 after using a credit card stolen in a River Park area burglary.
 
Forget 1,000 words. These pictures could be worth up to $1,000 if someone out there recognizes the suspect and calls Crime Stoppers, providing information that leads to an arrest in the case.

Calls to Crime Stoppers at 817-469-TIPS are confidential. Or you can call Detective Pruitt at 817-392-4716.

-- Deanna Boyd

Police: Neighbor's offer to aid woman with cancer becomes ID theft

There's taking advantage of someone and then there's criminal activity.

That's what Mansfield police say a woman did by stealing the identity and thousands of dollars in cash from a neighbor she had offered to help during the neighbor's battle with cancer.

Police have arrested Janice Gast, who faces identity theft charges after police say she stole credit cards and more than $25,000 in cash from Jody Short while Short was undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatment for cancer.

Gast had offered to help run errands for Short and help manage her mounting medical bills, but stole from her instead, police say.

"It makes me sick to my stomach that a human being could do this to another human being," Short told Ellen Goldberg of Channel 5.

-- Lance Murray

Military targeted by ID theft ring that stole $2 million, police say

North Texas theft ring ripped off 8,000 sailors for $1 million

Thousands of sailors and reservists at two Texas military bases are victims of an identity theft ring that stole more than $2 million, police said Thursday.

The ring included a former U.S. Navy petty officer who had been a payroll clerk at the Fort Worth Reserve Joint Reserve Base, police said.

Cora Dixon , 33,who was kicked out of the Navy last year, is accused of engaging in organized criminal activity. Her boyfriend, Seneca Willis, 26, also faces the same charge.

Dixon is accused of taking banking and personal information from 8,000 sailors and reservists to make fraudulent checks and identification cards. The information was taken from the Fort Worth base and a San Antonio base, authorities said.

Her boyfriend is accused of then going to homeless shelters in Dallas and getting several of those residents to cash the fraudulent checks.

Euless police along with the U.S. Secret Service and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigated the case.

Read more in this report from Staff Writer Domingo Ramirez Jr.

-- Bill Miller

Police: Mom steals daughter's identity to become cheerleader

Many of us would like to relive our childhoods, while others might feel their never had a childhood to begin with because of the conditions they grew up in.

In Wisconsin, a 33-year-old woman has been charged with identity theft -- that of her 15-year-old daughter -- so that she could enroll in high school and become a cheerleader.

According to the police complaint, the woman wanted to enroll to get her high school diploma and to regain part of her life because she felt she didn't have a childhood. Her daughter lives in Nevada with Brown's mother.

Brown's bond was set at $8,000 and if convicted, she faces up to six years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

-- Lance Murray

Man who stole Sid Bass' identity going to jail

He lived for the past four decades by assuming the identities of others, including Fort Worth billionaire Sid Bass.

But he eventually got caught and now he'll spend the next 15 years in a federal prison as himself.

Read Staff Writer Bryon Okada's account of Richard Joseph Tagliamonte, identity thief.

-- Bill Miller

Identity thief faces 20 years in prison

Marten Casarez, 22, of Mansfield, was "one of the most profitable and prolific identity thieves Tarrant County has prosecuted," a prosecutor said last week.

Casarez (left) faces 20 years in prison after pleading guilty Friday to nine charges; four are expected to be dropped as part of his plea agreement.

Staff Writer Martha Deller reports on how nine witnesses described how Casarez destroyed their credit -- and their lives.

As part of his schemes, Casarez impersonated ministers, doctors, lawyers, police officers and private investigators.

"His reach was nationwide," Assistant District Attorney Lori Varnell said. "This case was so big, it was like a spider web."

Readers might be able to avoid these nightmares by following tips described in a report by Staff Writer Mitch Mitchell.

-- Bill Miller

Are feds breaking the law? Lawsuit seeks answer

A union has indicated it will sue U.S. immigration officials, claiming federal law enforcement officers violated the rights of thousands of Swift & Co. workers during raids last December at the company's meatpacking plants throughout the country.

Federal officials said they were investigating identity theft at the plants.

-- Bill Miller