"A Milwaukee police officer has been charged with stealing a 7-year-old Racine boy's Social Security number to make purchases including a high-end Mercedes-Benz, according to a criminal complaint.
- Lymon L. Taylor, 33, is charged with felony identity theft in Waukesha County. If convicted, he faces up to six years in prison.
Taylor made his initial appearance Wednesday and is free on a $5,000 signature bond, according to online court records.
Anne E. Schwartz, speaking for the Milwaukee Police Department, said Thursday that Taylor has been suspended. He has been with the department for five years and had been assigned to District 7.
Waukesha County District Attorney Brad Schimel is prosecuting the case himself, according to online court records. Schimel declined to comment because it is a pending case. Taylor's attorney did not return a call.
- According to the criminal complaint, Milwaukee detectives were investigating identity theft by another man, Lee Ellis, who led them to Taylor.
Ellis is charged in Milwaukee County with identity theft and possession of cocaine. He has pleaded not guilty and is set to go to trial.
Ellis told detectives he and Taylor discussed how to improve their credit ratings and found a company in California that promised to fix credit for $2,500 a person, according to the complaint.
The two men plus a third, who has not been charged, received what looked like Social Security numbers, the complaint says. They were told to use their own name and the new numbers as their Social Security number. They also were told to use an address other than their own because addresses are associated with a person's credit rating,
- which in their cases were bad, according to the criminal complaint....
Taylor, who previously had purchased six vehicles with his true Social Security number, used the fraudulently obtained number to buy a 2007 Mercedes-Benz S550 from Ernie Von Schledorn in Menomonee Falls in June, according to the complaint, which cites special agent Michael Clemens of the Social Security Administration's Office of the Inspector General.
- The selling price of the car was not listed, but the Kelley Blue Book suggested retail price of that car is about $48,000.
The Social Security number Taylor used actually belongs to a boy in Racine....
Since the boy's Social Security number had not been used previously, there was no credit history, the complaint says.
- Shepard interviewed employees at the car dealership and A-B Credit Union, which authorized the loan,
asking how someone could buy an expensive car with no credit history.
A fresh Social Security number would bring a high credit score, according to the credit union. That credit score coupled with a good job would be good enough to buy such a car, they said.
A month after buying the Mercedes, Taylor returned to the credit union trying to buy another car. But the second loan was denied because he had not been paying on the first loan for long enough,
- the credit union employee said."
via American Thinker
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