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Forum : Fraud Prevention
| Posted: 02/09/2004 | Alleged ID theft clan on the run
| Original Source:
Author: Bob Sullivan
Authorities say family bought 23 homes with fake papers
Miguel Hernandez and his extended family moved into a dream, half-million-dollar hideaway home along the banks of the Columbia River in Vancouver, Wash., on April 1 — the date now dripping in irony. In fact, the small palace was just one of 23 homes the family is said to have purchased in the past two years, scooping up $4 million worth of properties in and around Portland Ore., many of them adult care homes. And, it turns out, all of them purchased by identity theft, according to local police.
IT ALL CAME crashing down last week when police, acting on a tip from a local credit union, discovered evidence the 23 homes were purchased with false identities. Now authorities allege the Hernandez family — grandmother, mom, son, daughter and wife — are a clan of expert identity thieves.
With the list of properties still growing, and suspicion the family may have played the same con game in both Florida and Texas, police are hastily searching for the group. They disappeared from Vancouver suddenly last week, after Miguel Hernandez, 22, and his sister Melania, 21, were let out on bail.
While six family members are involved, police say the group has at least 20 known aliases. They entered the country via Florida several years ago and spent time in Texas before allegedly beginning their string of cons in Vancouver in 2001. But Vancouver Police Detective Ed Hewitt believes they had practiced their craft in other parts of the country.
“I think they came here with experience,” he said. “Now the issue is figuring out who exactly they are and backtracking and seeing how much damage they have done.”
The list of victims is long, but their final victim might be the most tragic, Hewitt said. Facing $60,000 bail, the fugitives’ grandmother convinced a friend from church to put up his house as collateral for a bond.
“He did it without telling his wife,” Hewitt said. “They’re probably going to lose the house now.”
The Hernandez clan was ingenious at making money on all sides of their business dealings, authorities say. With each house closing, they apparently convinced the seller to pay them an extra $10,000 or $20,000 in cash for improvements — money that was supposed to be rolled into the loan.
“They always walked away from a deal with cash in hand ... like that late-night television commercial,” Hewitt said.
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