An NYPD cadet was arrested Wednesday for stealing his mother’s credit card as part of a $13 million identity theft ring, authorities said.
http://liarcatchers.com/identity_theft_investigation.html
Raymond Gumti, 23, is accused of taking his mom’s TD Bank card and PIN numbers and using them to create a counterfeit credit card.
He put the phony card in the name of another defendant who was indicted as a shopper in the scheme and racked up nearly $13,000 in unauthorized charges at stores like Apple, Louis Vuitton and Bloomingdales, a spokesman for the Queen’s District Attorney’s Office said.
Gumti was arraigned on charges of grand larceny, criminal possession of a forged instrument, falsifying business records and criminal facilitation on Wednesday and released on $2,5000 bail, officials said.
The suspect’s mom, Patricia Gumti, 51, reached by phone at her son’s South Ozone Park home, declined to comment.
The five-count indictment could land the cadet – who was set to graduate from the Police Academy on Dec. 22 and has been suspended without pay – up to seven years in prison if he’s convicted.
Last October, 111 suspected crooks were indicted in Queens for their roll in the identity theft ring – the largest in U.S. history according to the DA.
They gang netting more than $13 million used to support lifestyles filled with five-star hotels, shopping sprees and private jets.
These “shoppers” also took the cards to buy high-end designer handbags, expensive jewels and electronics in New York and all over the country including Florida, Massachusetts, and California. The 16-month investigation, coined “Operation Swiper,” found that the ill-gotten goods were often sold over the internet.
In an unrelated case, NYPD civilian employee Todd Barnes, 52, was arrested Tuesday and charged with grand larceny for cashing stolen money orders for $10 a pop, accruing nearly $16,000 over the course of two years, cops said.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/queens/nypd-cadet-arrested-allegedly-stealing-mother-credit-card-a-13-million-id-theft-ring-queens-article-1.992407#ixzz1ghpN5YMl
