An identity thief in Palm Beach County, Florida was paying a sheriff’s deputy $10,000 a month for private information about people who were driving expensive cars.
The deputy, identified as Frantz Felisma, 42, used his law-enforcement database to access the information, which he would then write down on pieces of paper and share with the thief, identified in court documents as K.J.
The thief would then open credit cards in their name and steal money, which he used to buy his own expensive vehicles, pay private school tuition for his kids, and other merchandise and services. The scamster pleaded guilty earlier in 2016 to a $283,000 identity theft and for taking part in a $387,000 fraud to rent dozens of houses that weren’t his.
The deputy was arrested Dec. 22 for federal identity theft charges that were detailed in an affidavit filed by a Homeland Security Agent.
Felisma was reported to run an unusually high number of license plate checks this year, including on days he wasn’t working, according to this Palm Beach Post story. According to the story, “In all, 16 identity-theft victims in K.J.’s federal cases owned vehicles whose license plates were run by someone logged into the system as Felisma, the agent said. Those 16 victims lost $196,851.37, according to the agent.”
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