ID Theft Suspect Charged In Stamford For Cross-Country Shopping Spree

Tamara Turner of Houston, AKA "Diana Ross", is being in charged with 18 counts of identity theft for stealing a Stamford woman's identity and opening up accounts in malls across America using a fake ID.

"On June 2011, the complainant came in to Stamford Police Department and made a report of identity theft. She claimed someone had fraudulently used her personal information to open up credit card accounts at Sam's Club, Victoria's Secret, Macy's, Toys R' Us, and JC Penny," a SPD arrest warrant states. "It appears the suspect presented a CT driver's license with the victim's information."

According to court documents, the license was invalid, and it did not have the victim's real information. The suspect used the new accounts to spend $8,854.96 in various Memphis, TN malls.

SPD traced the this illegal activity back to the suspect by using the IP address that was transmitted from her rejected Best Buy credit card application. This was the first time that the name "Tamara Turner" came up for SPD, but a detective in Mamoroneck, NY, who was investigating a case of identity theft very similar to SPD's was already familiar with it.

"Surveillance footage was obtained of the suspect, who opened a fradulent account in Nashville on April 30, 2011, using the victim's information," SPD's arrest warrant states. 

This surveillance footage, coupled with surveillance videos of other mall stores around TN, displayed a woman with a distinctive heart-shaped necklace opening up accounts. Stamford police, Mamaroneck police, and Houston police, already investigating Turner for check fraud, determined that the woman in the videos was Tamara Turner.

"After reading about the comparisons in the Houston Police Department's report, it is clear that Turner is involved in an extensive identity theft ring operating in multiple states," court documents state. "A search warrant was completed and sent to Sprint for the subscriber information. Call logs show that Turner's number was also registered under the name Diana Ross."

Details surrounding Turner's arrest has not been released. Turner posted bond will appear in a Stamford court later this week.