Sheriff’s deputies this week arrested a pair of suspected identify thieves who had a collection of hundreds of fraudulent debit, credit and Social Security cards, among other items.

The investigation began in August when a victim told the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department that fraudulent activity was occurring on her bank accounts. Detectives discovered that someone had changed the passwords on her accounts and had her mail put on hold and sent to another location.

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Leads in the case led deputies to a home in the 1500 block of North G Street where they arrested June Hurtado, 27, and Mizael Gonzalez, 40, both of San Bernardino.

Sheriff’s deputies found at least 200 names of potential victims during their search.

Anyone with information may call sheriff’s deputies at 909-387-3545.

Police have charged a 30-year-old man who allegedly attempted to cash a stolen check on Wednesday.

Tyson Summers, who does not have a local address, was arrested while trying to cash the check at an Ala Moana check-cashing service.

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Summers was charged Friday with second-degree forgery, unauthorized possession of confidential personal information and third-degree identity theft. His bail was set at $15,000.

New York City police arrested an Iron Station man Thursday wanted for identity theft and a number of other charges in Lincoln and Catawba Counties, deputies said.

Aquil Giovanni Jackson, 27, of 526 Mt. Vernon Church Road, was apprehended by officers in the city’s Manhattan District after they ran the suspect’s name through the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office said.

The site revealed Jackson had outstanding warrants.

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Deputies said he and Dennis Nelson Arquiett, 31, of 3488 Gladden Drive in Lincolnton, used a Hickory woman’s ATM card to steal more than $800 from two locations on Maiden Highway.

The incidents took place between Oct. 5 and 6, an agency press release said.

Arquiett has yet to be located while Jackson will stand trial in Lincoln County upon being extradited back to the area, deputies said.

Jackson faces five felony counts each of identity theft and obtaining property by false pretenses along with one felony count each of conspiracy and resisting, delaying and obstructing a public officer from separate incidents in Lincoln and Catawba Counties, deputies said.

Officers filed two felony counts each of identity theft and obtaining property by false pretenses against Arquiett.

He also faces one felony count each of conspiracy and financial card theft.

According to the North Carolina Department of Corrections website, Jackson maintains felony drug convictions in Lincoln and Gaston Counties dating back to 2006.

The public records site also showed felony forgery convictions under Arquiett’s name. The offenses took place in the county in 2004.

The wanted man has additional misdemeanor offenses to his name for driving with a revoked license in Lincoln County along with larceny and worthless check in Catawba County.

Increased scrutiny of missing person cases in a Cleveland neighbourhood following the arrest of kidnapper Ariel Castro led to charges against a neighbour for the murders of two women in the 1990s, the FBI has said.

Elias Acevedo, Sr., 49, was charged yesterday with the kidnapping, rape and murder of his 30-year-old neighbour, Pamela Pemberton, found strangled in 1994, and another woman believed to be Christina Adkins, a pregnant 18-year-old who disappeared in 1995. He also is charged with the rape of two young girls.

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“Because the public became more aware and investigators were determined and relentless, people were re-interviewed and there was an increased interest in these missing person cases,” FBI spokeswoman Vicki Anderson said.

Acevedo, who lived on the same block as Castro, was arrested in June at his Seymour Avenue residence after police questioned Castro’s neighbours and discovered that Acevedo was a convicted sex offender who had failed to report his current address.

Acevedo became a suspect in the murders of Ms Adkins and Ms Pemberton after the FBI re-examined the disappearance of other missing women from the Seymour Avenue neighbourhood in the aftermath of Castro’s arrest, according to a statement from the Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office.

Cleveland’s Seymour Avenue garnered international attention after three women – Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus – were found with Berry’s 6-year-old daughter in a dilapidated home owned by 53-year-old Castro. The women had been missing for about a decade – Castro had fathered the child.

While incarcerated, Acevedo’s DNA was linked to a 1993 rape that occurred near the location where Pemberton’s body was found. The FBI then linked Acevedo to the 1995 disappearance of Ms Adkins, last seen in the vicinity of Seymour Avenue.

Acevedo has confessed to the murders, which means authorities will not seek the death penalty, according to Joe Frolik, spokesman for the Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office.

Acevedo led authorities to a spot near a highway where he had put Adkins’ body in a manhole 18 years ago, according to the FBI and prosecutors.

The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office is in the process of positively identifying what are believed to be Ms Adkins’ remains after her identification card was found nearby.

Castro pleaded guilty to 937 charges and was found hanged in his prison cell just a month into a life sentence. His death was ruled a suicide by the Franklin County coroner but an investigation into his death by prison officials has called into question whether he died accidentally while performing a sex act.

The indictment against Acevedo includes 115 kidnapping charges and more than 173 charges of rape involving Ms Adkins, Ms Pemberton and the repeated rapes over a period of months of two girls, starting when they were 8 and 11 years old. He was also charged in the 1993 rape of his brother’s common-law wife.

“It is definitely bittersweet, you hate to give this news to the family but you hope it give them some closure,” Ms Anderson said.

Acevedo is scheduled to be arraigned in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas court Monday. He has not yet been assigned a lawyer, according to court documents.

A Madison County man plead not guilty to an attempted murder charge in court Friday.

Stewart Ballew is accused of shooting at a car outside the Redi Mart on Irvine Road Wednesday afternoon. The man in that car was hurt by flying glass.

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Police say the shooting stemmed from an ongoing fight between Ballew and the alleged victim, Carlos Walker.

Ballew is scheduled to be back in court on October 23.

Police are searching for a 19-year-old college student missing from the South Side Pullman neighborhood.

Jermal Hawkins told his family in a text message that he was going to the library and to get a hair cut near South Stony Island Avenue and East 87th Street on Tuesday, but never showed up for the hair cut, according to a missing person alert from Area South detectives.

Hawkins has not been showing up for classes at Olive Harvey College since then, the alert said.

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He is described as a 6-foot-2, 245-pound black man with black hair, brown eyes and a medium complexion, the alert said.

It is not known what he was wearing when he went missing,

Anyone with information should contact the Area South Special Victims Section at (312) 747-8274.

A Laurel County man has been arrested after police say he exposed himself through the window of a woman’s home.

The Laurel County Sheriff’s Department says Jerry Collier left a love note for a woman at her house. Then, deputies say Collier exposed himself through the window of the woman’s home.

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When deputies got to the house, they say Collier ran from the window to get his clothes.

Collier was arrested and charged with indecent exposure and trespassing.

A man has been indicted for murder in the case of a Lexington driver who died after a carjacking back in August.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports 31-year-old Joel Searcy is charged in the death of 82-year-old Donald “Leroy” Cooke.

Police say Searcy jumped into Cooke’s truck at the PDQ Market on New Circle Road then assaulted him before trying to take the truck. Cooke was hospitalized for ten days before he succumbed to his injuries.

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Searcy was also indicted on charges of first-degree robbery, five counts of unlawful imprisonment, and one misdemeanor count of leaving the scene of an accident in connection with a crime earlier that day.

Police say Searcy held a woman and her four children against their will inside a car.

The Tallahassee Police Department Special Victims Unit is seeking the whereabouts of 16 year old Andrew Day. Andrew is approximately 5’10” tall, 180 lbs with brown hair and green eyes. He was last seen on 10/15/13, in the area of Roberts Ave wearing a red t-shirt and jeans.

http://liarcatchers.com/missing_persons_investigations.html

Andrew may be in the company of another missing person, 17 year old Desaree Levingston. She is approximately 5’6” tall, 175 lbs, with black hair and brown eyes.

If you have any information, please contact the Tallahassee Police Department at (850) 606-5800.