Ronald Williams – 6 Years in the Pokey for Identity Theft
Identity theft often comes in many unique forms. In the case of Ronald Williams, he covered just about every scam out there!
$840,000 in 5 Years
Identity theft is a fairly new crime as perpetrated in modern society. Ronald Williams picked up quickly. In five years, he bilked creditors and others out of $840,000. Frankly, he was brilliant. He even sold his own home three different times!
According to the plea agreement, Williams used the names and Social Security numbers of others between June 29, 2001, and July 14, 2006, to obtain credit and buy cars, a home and appliances. Williams actually bought and sold his own Severn home three times -in June 2001, July 2004 and February 2006 - securing a new mortgage in a different name each time, court records said. Talk about making the most of your equity!
Williams used several names to perpetrate his frauds; Dominick Reavis, Oji Williams, Randolph Lapps, Jeffrey Lee Jacobs, J&J Exclusive Auto, Inc., Supreme Ent., and Prometric Tech to name a few. Most of Williams illicit work focused on synthetic identity theft, since he was largely creating new identities - not stealing others, Ms. Fine said. But Williams did dabble in the theft of real names and identities.
It was the theft of Jeffrey Lee Jacobs' name in 2005 that alerted authorities to Williams, according to a redacted copy of the government's criminal complaint. Prosecutors said Williams diverted the Carroll County man's mail to a Hanover UPS Store from July 14, 2005, through Dec.1, 2005. He then used Mr. Jacob's name and information to create businesses, open bank accounts, purchase a refrigerator and obtain more than $103,000 in car loans and other lines of credit.
When the banks came knocking in Oct. 2005, Mr. Jacobs filed a police report. A Maryland State Police trooper and U.S. Postal service investigator then found themselves unraveling a complex network of stolen identities and dummy corporations.
The break in the case came when police uncovered a photocopy of a fake driver's license Williams used to rent the post office box. A subsequent interview with a Baltimore County Police Detective revealed the Randolph Lapps on the ID was actually Williams. The detective had previously arrested Williams for stolen cars and identity theft, the complaint said.
In all, Williams used 13 Social Security numbers, according to the criminal complaint. As a condition of his plea, Williams forfeited his Severn home as well as two properties in Atlanta, his Range Rover and $30,489.70 in a business bank account.