It started out last month with a man and woman getting busted breaking into cars at the Kohl’s department store on Paseo del Norte NE.
By Thursday, a dozen people were in custody in what authorities are calling the largest identity theft ring in the city’s history.
Officials have identified Robert Rivera as the ringleader of a group who allegedly used an elaborate computer system to make bogus checks, fake credit cards and IDs. The suspects are accused of using the checks and credit cards to defraud Walmart, Maloof Distributing, Paul Allen Homes, Albertsons grocery stores and Bank of the West.
“We believe this is going to be the largest, most high-profile identity theft ring the city has ever encountered,” said Pat Davis, spokesman for the District Attorney’s Office. “That’s because this is not a group that used a single method — these weren’t just burglaries and thefts. They literally used every trick in the book to obtain bank records, IDs and account information of their victims, then turned around and used every tactic they could to quickly convert that into cash.”
Read more from McClatchy-Tribune Information Service.