Eight out-of-state residents have been arrested in Boise in separate schemes involving setting up cell phone accounts using fraudulent means.
In one case, four California residents reportedly tried to obtain cell phones under accounts set up with false names.
Boise Police say the four -- Brittany A. Terry, 20, of Lakewood; Karina Flores, 21, of Anaheim; Joseph P. Jancu, 21, of Fullerton; and Jeromy V. Reeves, 37, of Anaheim -- traveled to Boise from California with the intent of committing the fraud.
Officers initially responded to a “fraud in progress” call at a cellular phone store near the intersection of Milwaukee Street and Emerald Street at 12:54 p.m. on Tuesday.
Reports indicate two women were in the store trying to obtain merchandise using false identities. Officers were able to detain the two as they left the store, as well as two men who were waiting for the women in a car in the store’s parking lot.
Officers say they found evidence the women had tried to obtain several cell phones under accounts set up with false names. Information indicates the group had made similar fraudulent account agreements at several other local cell phone stores previously. “The personal information used by the female suspect, identified as Terry, was found to belong to an actual female victim,” according to a Boise Police department news release.
Terry faces two counts each of felony burglary and criminal conspiracy, Flores faces one count each of felony burglary and criminal conspiracy, Jancu and Reeves were arrested arrest on one count of criminal conspiracy.
In a similar, separate case, officers were called to a suspicious activity at a cell phone store on the 500 block of Milwaukee Street Wednesday afternoon.
Store employees reported two men with what appeared to be false out-of-state identifications allegedly tried to open multiple phone accounts and purchase phones.
Employees reported the men quickly left the store and fled in a vehicle. Based on witness descriptions, officers were able to locate and stop the vehicle at the intersection of Cole Road and Denton Street, where officers spoke with one of the men.
Soon after, according to a police news release, officers were able to locate the other man and two other individuals in the area. Investigators said members of the group, all from Texas, had reportedly tried to purchase cell phones and cell phone plans using false IDs -- the names used belonging to real people who were unaware.
Arrested were: Kayla T. Allison, 18, of Mesquite; Nicholas M. Singleton, 24, of Garland; Xavier K. Knox, 26, of Dallas; and Andrew J. McLeod, 21, of Balch Springs.
Officers also learned that two of the suspects, Allison and Singleton, had outstanding warrants from Washington. In addition to the fugitive charges, both were arrested for felony criminal conspiracy. Knox faces charges of felony burglary and criminal conspiracy. McLeod faces a single criminal conspiracy charge.
