The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office said on Friday that two men are in custody after they stole credit cards and made hundreds of dollars in charges.

A Sheriff’s Office statement said Dominic Croslin, 22, and Mykel Stevens, 23, entered an unlocked truck in southwest Prescott and stole a wallet containing credit cards, cash and a Medicare ID on Jan. 27. From there, deputies said the two used the victim’s cards and spent close to $800 at Walmart and a local restaurant.

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After requesting help to find the thieves, Yavapai County deputies were contacted by officers from the Yavapai Tribal Police Department, who recognized the pair from surveillance photos and suspect information from a similar case, the sheriff’s statement said.

Deputies said they used the information on Tuesday to identify and arrest Croslin, who admitted knowing about the burglary and the purchases, before giving up Stevens as his accomplice, according to the statement.

Stevens gave himself up to his parole officer Friday afternoon and was arrested shortly afterwards, a spokesman for the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office said.

Croslin and Stevens were booked into jail on suspicion of theft, forgery, identity theft, fraudulent use of a credit card and burglary.

Senior citizens are often the target of scams. A few weeks ago, a Pacific, Missouri woman discovered her identity was stolen. She’s hoping her story will prevent it from happening to other seniors.

Jean Guffey, director at the Tri-County Community Senior Center, says someone in Atlanta filed a tax return using her name and social security number. The $1,300 refund was sent to a Visa debit card account, also in Jean’s name.

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‘’They went and cashed it out immediately and got the $1,300. I knew nothing of it ‘til I received this letter about two weeks ago,” she said.

The letter is from a company called PayPower. It was an annual privacy policy notice sent to anybody who holds one of the cards.

The people who visit the center get lots of advice from Jean.

‘’They’re getting calls, people trying to get money from them and this kind of thing. And I want them to be aware of what they need to do so that they are not taken,” she said.

The first thing she tells them is contact the police. While local police can’t do much about a thief in Atlanta, the IRS asks that you at least go on record to report the crime.

Det. Amanda Meyer of the Pacific Police Department says she hears the complaints.

‘’Tax time is coming right now and that is when we are getting hit really hard,” she said. ‘‘We’ve already had five reports in Pacific itself for tax fraud.”

According to a report from the U.S. Treasury, approximately 270,518 taxpayers were victims of identity theft in 2010. Three years later, that number climbed to 1.63 million victims. And Det. Meyer says seniors who are home more are hit hard by phone scammers.

‘’You’ll have someone that’s pretending that they’re with the IRS or they’re with Medicare and they need to update your information. Never, ever hand your information out over the phone. ‘

Jean says it’s a taxing, tedious process to regain you identity once it’s stolen.

‘’Now I’m going to have to prove who I am,” she said. ‘‘Somebody else has already proved they’re me. So how do I go back and say this is really who I am?”

Sharing information about identity theft with your elderly family and friends is certainly a must-have conversation. They have no control over data breaches, but they should be warned about the telephone scammer.

Senior citizens are often the target of scams. A few weeks ago, a Pacific, Missouri woman discovered her identity was stolen. She’s hoping her story will prevent it from happening to other seniors.

Jean Guffey, director at the Tri-County Community Senior Center, says someone in Atlanta filed a tax return using her name and social security number. The $1,300 refund was sent to a Visa debit card account, also in Jean’s name.

‘’They went and cashed it out immediately and got the $1,300. I knew nothing of it ‘til I received this letter about two weeks ago,” she said.

The letter is from a company called PayPower. It was an annual privacy policy notice sent to anybody who holds one of the cards.

The people who visit the center get lots of advice from Jean.

‘’They’re getting calls, people trying to get money from them and this kind of thing. And I want them to be aware of what they need to do so that they are not taken,” she said.

The first thing she tells them is contact the police. While local police can’t do much about a thief in Atlanta, the IRS asks that you at least go on record to report the crime.

Det. Amanda Meyer of the Pacific Police Department says she hears the complaints.

‘’Tax time is coming right now and that is when we are getting hit really hard,” she said. ‘‘We’ve already had five reports in Pacific itself for tax fraud.”

According to a report from the U.S. Treasury, approximately 270,518 taxpayers were victims of identity theft in 2010. Three years later, that number climbed to 1.63 million victims. And Det. Meyer says seniors who are home more are hit hard by phone scammers.

‘’You’ll have someone that’s pretending that they’re with the IRS or they’re with Medicare and they need to update your information. Never, ever hand your information out over the phone. ‘

Jean says it’s a taxing, tedious process to regain you identity once it’s stolen.

‘’Now I’m going to have to prove who I am,” she said. ‘‘Somebody else has already proved they’re me. So how do I go back and say this is really who I am?”

Sharing information about identity theft with your elderly family and friends is certainly a must-have conversation. They have no control over data breaches, but they should be warned about the telephone scammer.

http://liarcatchers.com/identity_theft_investigation.html

Relisha Rudd was last seen on March 1, 2014. Her whereabouts for the past 363 days have been unknown, but there is a grim possibility. Just 26 days after the last confirmed sighting of the then-8-year-old girl, D.C. police Chief Cathy Lanier raised the theory that she may have been murdered. (Her presumed abductor Kahlil Tatum, a janitor at the homeless shelter where she lived, was found dead of a presumed suicide days later.) But now, nearly a year after her disappearance, some advocates are holding on to hope that Relisha will come home alive.

Officially, there’s no fresh news to report. A spokeswoman with the Metropolitan Police Department says the investigation into Relisha’s disappearance remains open, but the department is unable to discuss details. “MPD will assign as many detectives as necessary to follow up on active leads,” says spokeswoman Gwendolyn Crump.

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The search for Relisha also continues for advocates of the homeless and of missing people and children. The founders of Black and Missing, a foundation that publicizes cases of missing people of color—cases that are traditionally undercovered by the national media—are based in the D.C. area and have been particularly visible in the continued outreach on Relisha’s case.

“We still believe she’s alive, and we’ll believe that until a body’s found,” say co-founder Natalie Williams. As Relisha’s ninth birthday was marked in October without her, volunteers from Black and Missing, along with detectives from MPD, held an event to hand out missing-person flyers at several locations including near D.C. General, the shelter where Relisha was living with her mother and brothers until her disappearance. (The shelter is still operated by The Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness, which critics say hasn’t done enough to improve since Relisha vanished.)

Jamila Larson of the Homeless Children’s Playtime Project, which runs free programs for children and teens at D.C. General, says she’s “convinced that someone knows something that would be helpful with the investigation.” (Relisha was a participant in Playtime Project’s programming before her disappearance.) “The one-year anniversary is the perfect opportunity to remind people that she’s missing,” she says.

With MPD, volunteers from Black and Missing and the Playtime Project will hand out flyers again on March 2 at several locations police believe are ideal to reach people who may know something—anything—about the case. Volunteers will hand out flyers near the New York Avenue NE hotel where Relisha was last seen, at Metro stations including Union Station and Gallery Place-Chinatown, and outside the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, where Tatum’s body was found and where several searches were conducted for Relisha.

As the days progress, the chances of finding Relisha become statistically slimmer and slimmer. But this does not deter the people who believe she will be found alive.

“The public is very much involved,” says Wilson. “Relisha is on everyone’s mind.”

Investigators were told that a man assaulted a woman on Indiana Ave. on Saturday.

The man wrapped his arms around her and began to thrust against her violently for several minutes before throwing her to the ground causing her to sprain her wrist.

The report led investigators to video footage at the Herald Leader that captured a man loitering in front of the offices. The footage is time stamped at 4:04 p.m. on Feb. 21, just a few moments after the woman made the call about the assault.

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The victim described the attacker as a white male, 5’7 – 5’9, wearing a gray hoodie and jeans. Authorities are confident that the man in the surveillance footage, wearing a red and black toboggan with a ball on the top, is the one responsible for the assault.

The victim also claims that approximately fifteen minutes after her assault, another woman living on East Bell Court reported being confronted on her front porch by the same man.

Police are hoping that someone may be able to identify the suspect by the hat he was wearing.  If you know who he is, call the police.

Police said some booze bandits got busted for stealing 88 cases of alcohol from two tractor trailers, in two different counties.

The Montgomery County Sheriff said it was an inside job, and three people have been charged with the crimes. However, as of Thursday there was still an investigation into where the missing alcohol went.

“Someone is having one heck of a party ha ha,” said Dennis Bradley. He had a good laugh at the thought of so much missing alcohol. However, as a truck driver himself, he said these crimes are no laughing matter.

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“Everyone comes out and thinks well we have a truck here full of goods, let’s just take it, doesn’t realize what it does to our families,” said Bradley.

It’s a worry that is constantly on Bradley’s mind. However, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department said in this case, a truck driver was one of the three people to blame.

Montgomery County Sheriff Fred Shortridge said 40-year old Chris Compton planned for his own truck and a friend’s truck to be broken into. Detectives said he called and asked George Barnett and Heather Blanton to commit the crimes.

“37 cases were taken out of the truck in Bath County, 51 cases was taken out of the truck in Montgomery County,” said Shortridge.

Deputies said Barnett and Heather first broke into Compton’s tractor trailer in Bath County on February 14th. However, the missing alcohol cases were never reported to police as being stolen.

Investigators said on February 21st, the scheme started to unravel when Compton’s friend noticed his own truck had been broken into. Then investigators said that man called Montgomery County Deputies from a truck stop.

“Went home and came back the following Monday. He discovered that his unit was broken into and notified us,” said Shortridge.

Quickly, investigators tracked the thefts to Compton, Barnett and Blanton. However, investigators couldn’t find the liquor.

“Whoever purchased that alcohol knows that it is stolen, there is no doubt in my mind,” said Shortridge. Wherever the booze is, the sheriff expects more arrests.

Investigators said Compton, Barnett and Blanton are each charged with a felony of theft by unlawful taking.

Detectives investigation into a stolen credit card case has led to the arrest of a mother-daughter duo in connection to a sophisticated identity theft ring out of Orange County.

Kristina Anh Giusti, 44 of Garden Grove; her daughter, Kelcie Anh Thy Giusti Tang, 23, of Santa Ana, and a third woman, Terry Tan Mihn Nguyen, 30, also of Garden Grove were arrested Tuesday, according to San Bernardino County sheriff’s Chino Hills officials.

Deputies were investigating an identify theft case where someone had $800 stolen from their credit card. Detectives learned the victim’s card was used at several retail and restaurant establishments in and around Garden Grove. Authorities eventually linked Giusti with the fraudulent usage of the cards.

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On Tuesday, Chino Hills station detective served two search warrants at Giusti’s home in the 12100 block of College Avenue in Garden Grove. Sheriff’s investigators allegedly recovered more than a thousand forged or altered credit cards issued in Giusti’s name, as well as other names. The also seized six laptops, two tablets, an embossing machine, a tip card machine usually used for forging credit cards, a card encoder, several boxes of white stock credit cards, a money counter, $11,000 in cash and several “how-to’s” of fraud documents.

Nguyen was at Giusti’s house during the serve of the search warrant and was reportedly linked to the identity theft ring.

Tang,used fraudulent cards given to her by her mother.

Nguyen, Giusti and Tang were arrested on suspicion of identity theft and booked at the West Valley Detention Center. The investigation is ongoing.