ID theft ring busted, authorities say

By: JO MORELAND - Staff Writer | Saturday, March 19, 2005 12:19 AM PST ∞

SAN DIEGO ---- Mail stolen from North County homes in Rancho Penasquitos, Poway and Scripps Ranch was used by a ring of young adults to steal thousands of dollars, authorities said Friday.

They announced that 34 people had been indicted on 66 felony charges in the largest identity theft ring broken up so far in San Diego County.

"This is one of the largest organized identity theft rings ever to be prosecuted in the State of California," District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said in a statement. "This was a sophisticated ring that involved account holders, recruiters, lieutenants and the top bosses."

By Friday evening at least 22 of 25 defendants arrested had been arraigned, Deputy Attorney General Tawnya Boulan said in an interview. Officials said nine more suspects were still at large, and some of them may be out of the state or the country.

All of the defendants so far, most of them from the South Bay area, are 18 to 22 years old, authorities said.

"There are other unnamed individuals who may also have participated," Boulan said.

As outlined by officials and court indictments, the defendants bought and sold bank account information from each other, stole outgoing mail that contained checks, then altered the stolen checks and cashed them through their bank accounts.

The money was then split up among defendants, Boulan said.

"As far as we can tell at this point, they were spending it on things like cars, living in nice areas," she said.

Boulan said because these were first bank accounts for most of the defendants, there was nothing about the young customers that would necessarily have alerted the banks.

"Identity theft is prevalent, because it's easy," said the deputy attorney general.

Boulan said about the same time law enforcement officers began working the case the banks spotted a pattern, based on where the checks were being stolen and where they were being cashed.

U.S. Postal Inspectors and the multi-agency Computer and Technology Crimes High-Tech Response Team began a two-year investigation.

It led to early morning raids and arrests this week at the defendants' homes in Poway, San Diego, Chula Vista, National City and Otay Mesa, officials said.

Every defendant could be sentenced to at least three years in prison, and the ring leader could get more than 10 years if convicted, Boulan said.

"I'd like to see all of these individuals sentenced to the fullest extent of the law," she said.

Contact staff writer Jo Moreland at (760) 740-3524 or jmoreland@nctimes.com.