Secret Service joins probe of counterfeit check scheme
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Three men charged with passing counterfeit checks at a popular New Hampshire shopping outlet had a stash of hundreds of stolen identities from around the country, authorities said.
Quentin West, 47, and Thomas Rose, 57, both of Pittsburgh, and Omar Patterson, 41, of Cleveland, each had about 10 fake IDs on them and matching counterfeit checks when they were arrested last week, Tilton, N.H., police Chief Robert Cormier said. The three were charged with counterfeiting, check fraud, and identity theft.
The Secret Service and U.S. attorney's office are joining Tilton police to unravel the scheme.
Police said they were alerted to the trio by an off-duty loss prevention investigator who thought he recognized one of the men from a flier distributed at a national intelligence conference.
Plainclothes officers were able to verify the checks were counterfeit while the men shopped, Chief Cormier said. Officers stopped their rented van bearing Pennsylvania plates as soon as it exited the shopping outlet.
Police got a search warrant for the van and found inside a trove of counterfeit check-printing equipment, magnetic ink to mirror that used on legitimate checks and detailed information on hundreds of stolen identities.
"They had every piece of a person's confidential information you would need to apply for a credit card or a loan -- name, address, date of birth, Social Security number, mother's maiden name, banking histories. They had all that for hundreds of people," Chief Cormier said.
All are being held on $50,000 cash bail.
First Published August 29, 2011 12:00 am
