Jeremy Pawloski reports on a case that reminds us that low-tech crimes still exist and can affect numerous people
A judge sentenced an Olympia-area man to 15 years in prison Thursday in connection with what law enforcement has called Thurston County’s largest identity-theft case.
Anthony Vaughn, 31, earlier had pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree identity theft and 82 counts of second-degree identity theft.
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Mark Thompson had asked Superior Court Judge Carol Murphy to impose an exceptional sentence that would put Vaughn in prison for 15 years, and she granted his request.
Detectives with the Sheriff’s Office took more than 40 boxes of evidence from Vaughn’s Johnson Point Road home in January, seizing stolen driver’s licenses, credit cards, credit card swipers and Social Security cards.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, such items belonging to more than 1,000 victims had been stolen. Detectives think Vaughn had accomplices who stole identification documents during car prowls and residential burglaries, and that they used the stolen documents to open bank accounts in the victims’ names.
Read more in The Bellingham Herald