Wichita police make a huge identity theft arrest, that could affect more than 50 people.
It was Wednesday morning when someone stole Bob Brunch’s truck in northwest Wichita.
“It was kind of devastating, cause it happened so quick,” said Brunch.
Eight hours later, police found it in southeast Wichita.
Inside the stolen truck, officers found hundreds of stolen documents, everything from fake ids, to checks, car titles, social security cards and Kansas Department of Correction release papers belonging to Craig Drees.
Police say Drees had the keys to the stolen truck in his pocket. Officers arrested him.
http://liarcatchers.com/identity_theft_investigation.html
“This really isn’t his first day in dealing with identify theft and forgery,” said SCAT Officer Kevin McKenna. “To have this amount of victims and forged checks.”
Police say Drees had personal information from at least 50 victims, including local businesses. He could face hundreds of felony charges.
In the mess, officers found a laptop and printer that police believe Drees had been using to make the fake documents.
‘You’ll see that drug addiction is the fuel behind the fire of committing these crimes,” said McKenna.
For Brunch, getting his truck back was the best news of the day. Now he hopes the thief will pay.
“I hope he goes to jail and stays,” said Brunch.
Drees was just released from prison in September after being convicted of dozens of counts of forgery.
One other interesting note, in the box of stolen items, was a handwritten note, from Drees, who was starting a group to help people who are addicted to stealing checks and credit cards.
One way police say you can protect yourself from being a victim, don’t keep personal information, including your car title, in your car.
