By Christine McCarthy
WACO- Two men are facing criminal charges after allegedly stealing two local people's identities and buying electronics, phone contracts and even a car.
According to their arrest warrants, Mark Anthony Lopez, 21, and Arnold Justin Angeles, 19, are being charged with Fraudulent Use of Identifying Information after stealing confidential information belonging to two tenants of Texas Star Properties, where Lopez was a leasing agent.
The affidavit states that Lopez used the names, dates of birth and social security numbers of two tenants to falsify documents and Texas driver's licenses in order for him and Angeles to buy a flat-screen television, a stereo system, phone contracts and a $40,000 2008 BMW, before the victims filed complaints last November. Since then, police tracked down credit card charges and worked with other agencies in their months-long investigation.
Lopez and Angeles opened credit card accounts and charged thousands at Sears, J.C. Penny, Walmart, Radio Shack, Target and Best Buy, according to Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton, of the Waco Police Department.
Houston Police arrested Angeles, who, according to the arrest warrant, admitted he received the identifying information from Lopez. Swanton said Houston Police arrested him on February 27, and Waco Police picked up Lopez on March 1.
"It's a lot of involvement for the victims now to try to go back and clean up their accounts and clean up their names and have to prove that it wasn't them," said Swanton, who encouraged business owners to make sure their information is secure and to screen their potential employees thoroughly if they will be handling such sensitive information.
A court document states that one of the victims learned about her identity theft when her credit-monitoring service at her bank alerted her of the new suspicious accounts.
"Conceivably, this could have gone on for quite some time," Swanton said. "It could've been much bigger had she not been notified fairly quickly."
