Two officers are victims of ID thefts

Five people are accused of stealing mail and opening fraudulent bank accounts.

By GRAHAM BRINK, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 22, 2003

TAMPA -- Stealing someone's identity is a crime. Stealing a police officer's identity is a recipe for getting caught.

Five defendants stood in federal court Tuesday accused of conspiring to use stolen mail to open bank accounts in other people's names, including that of Largo police Officer George Walters.

Walters, another officer with the Van Buren Police Department in Maine and at least eight other people were affected by the fraud, affidavits from a postal inspector said.

The five defendants, arrested last week, said little during a court hearing Tuesday. They face various charges including conspiracy, bank fraud and identification theft. The two women charged, Candace Horn, 20, and Betty Ann Morales, 20, were released on bail.

Oluseyi Bankaole, 30, and brothers Ibrahemm Ladeji, 22, and Kazeem Ladeji, 25, all Nigerian nationals, were held without bail pending more research into their immigration status.

According to the affidavits from the postal inspector, Walters reported that his mail box was broken into on Nov. 15. A few days later, an account was opened in his name at the Pinellas County Teachers Credit Union.

He discovered the account when he was rejected for a loan due to bad credit. Checks from that account were used fraudulently at several stores throughout the area, the affidavit said.

An investigation revealed that another unauthorized account was opened in the name of Jesse Cormier, the officer in Maine. The credit union provided copies of several checks deposited into the Cormier account and surveillance videotapes that showed two men making the deposits.

Investigators found that other residents at Brittany Bay Apartments on Seminole Boulevard in Largo, where Walters lived, had mail stolen the past few months, including one check worth $25,000.

The investigation led to the defendants, some of whom lived in Brittany Bay Apartments. Surveillance showed the defendants involved in cashing checks in the names of other people, the affidavits said.

A search of two apartments where some of the defendants lived found stolen mail, bank documents and credit card applications, the affidavits said.

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