THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 30, 1995 TAG: 9503300364
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
A teenage couple police say electronically stole a stranger's identity and charged more than $11,000 of merchandise in five days were arrested after their scheme was detailed in a cellular phone call.
A citizen listening to a police scanner overheard a conversation about the illegal shopping spree and called police.
Detective Bobby Sager said Wednesday that the fraud could result in 300 charges against the couple - a temporary employee at a credit-card agency and her boyfriend, an ROTC student at Hampton University - who were using the stranger's credit information to purchase electronic equipment, clothes, jewelry and items to furnish an apartment.
Both have admitted their involvement, police said.
``Neither of these people are stupid,'' said Sager, holding a manila packet burgeoning with receipts from the spending spree. ``This wasn't like a wallet fell on the floor and they found a credit card and said, `Hey, look what I got, let's go crazy.' This was considerably more intelligent.''
Sager said this is how the scheme worked:
Jennifer L. Adams, an 18-year-old computer operator who worked as a temp at Household Credit Services in Chesapeake, used her position to peruse the credit limits of customers who have General Motors credit cards. She and 19-year-old Lamont R. Williams, Sager said, selected a man with a $10,000 limit and copied his personal information.
Williams used a change-of-address procedure to divert the targeted man's mail to a post office box, Sager said. Then, he said, Williams used the cardholder's personal information to assume the cardholder's identity and fool GM credit representatives into believing he needed a new card to replace a damaged one.
The new card was sent and diverted to the post office box.
Williams then used his ROTC access to steal a blank military identification card, Sager said, and used his picture and the cardholder's name on the ID.
Adams and Williams initially purchased about $6,500 in merchandise with the GM card, Sager said, and then used the card and the fake ID to open as many as four other credit accounts at stores in Virginia Beach and Chesapeake. The purchases swelled to more than $11,000 in just a few days.
Sager said the couple shared the bounty with at least two friends. One, a woman, told a friend on a cellular phone bought with the credit card about recent purchases. She told her friend she was staying at the Clarion Resort and Conference Center, Sager said.
The couple and their friends paid for hotel rooms on the credit card and moved every two nights.
The citizen who overheard the cellular conversation on his scanner called police. Cellular phone calls, which are actually radio signals, are sometimes picked up by scanners.
An officer sent to the hotel spotted a woman with a cellular phone. He followed her to a room and knocked on the door. When she answered and invited him in, he saw a cache of retail goods.
Sager was called, and the scheme unraveled.
Adams and Williams were arrested March 13 and charged with one count each of credit card theft, fraud and forgery. Sager said he will review the case with the commonwealth's attorney's office to see whether added charges can be placed. Each separate purchase could result in three charges, Sager said.
Williams, of the 1400 block of White Blaze Court, was released from jail March 21 on $1,500 bail. Adams, of the 1500 block of Collingswood Trail, was released a day earlier on a promise to return to court. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photos]
Jennifer L. Adams, and Lamont R. Williams, allegedly purchased
clothes and jewelry with stolen credit information.
KEYWORDS: ARREST FRAUD FORGERY CREDIT CARD by CNB