Death Of NY State Trooper Leads Authorities To ID Theft Ring
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The tragic death of a New York State trooper may help dismantle a major identity theft ring.
A man was behind bars Wednesday night, but the investigation is just getting started.
Right after the death of Trooper Timothy Pratt, someone used his personal information to open a charge account at Home Depot, CBS2's Tony Aiello reported. State Police learned about it the day of his funeral.
Police raided apartments in Inwood and Yonkers, discovering evidence including a dozen so-called "burner" cell phones.
They also found a number of fake IDs -- one of which had a picture of a man named Stephen Calderon, but the name of the fallen hero.
"I think that's ludicrous," Yonkers resident Jerry Anthony said. "That's crazy, I can't see how people could do that."
Pratt died in a tragic accident upstate while on duty in October. Investigators say within a day or so, an ID theft ring had provided his vital information to Calderon.
They allege Calderon posed as Pratt to obtain a credit card at a Home Depot in central Westchester, where he bought a $900 washing machine. He then went on a shopping spree at a second store in northern Westchester.
It was there that he started raising red flags.
"He attempted to purchase about $4,800 more in items, which put him over the credit limit he had just received so they started asking questions," State Police Captain Robert Patnaude said.
Somehow, the store made the connection to the dead trooper.
Captain Patnaude says on the day of his funeral, the fallen trooper's daughter got a call from Home Depot asking about purchases made in her father's name. She immediately reported that to state police -- launching the investigation that lead to Tuesday's arrest of Calderon.
"We seized a lot of evidence yesterday," said Patnaude, "and we believe that's going to help us arrest more people."
According a sources, Calderon told state police had he known Pratt was a recently deceased state trooper he would have never stolen his identity.
