A Nigerian man, Uchenna Azubuike has been charged with 13
counts of identity fraud and held at the Thomas County Jail, Georgia.
Immigration personnel have interviewed the suspect and officials with
the Diplomatic Division of the U.S. attorney’s office at
Macon will interview Azubuike here in mid-March.
Azubuike,
29, of 1000 Barone Ave., Atlanta was arrested after allegedly
attempting to purchase two cell phones from a Vericon store using a fake
passport of a woman in New York.
Employees at the
Thomasville Verizon store, 13915 U.S. 19 South, became suspicious when
someone using a New Jersey woman’s identification purchased phones in
late February. Personnel contacted the woman and learned she had never
been in Thomasville.
Verizon employees were on high alert when a man — later
identified as Azubuike — entered the business two days later and
purchased two iPhones valued at a total of $1,700. Police were notified.
The suspect, who had filled out paperwork, was waiting for completion of the phone transaction when police arrived. As
soon as Azubuike saw police, he got in his vehicle, a 2010 Infiniti,
and attempted to leave, said police detective Scott Newberry.
Azubuike
refused to identity himself and was taken into custody. He was transported to the jail, where his identity was learned through
fingerprints.
"He was using a fake passport of
an individual from
New York, New York, and was attempting to buy cell phones on the New
York person’s Verizon account," Newberry explained. "On him, we found
the passport he was using. We learned his identity was a different
name."
The
Infiniti was seized and searched at the Jail-Justice Center impound
yard. Officers found 12 more passports and additional documents related
to identification fraud in the car.
"They were different names and
dates of birth, but his photo was on all of them," said Capt. Maurice
Holmes, commander of the Thomasville Police Department Criminal
Investigations Division.
Also found in the
vehicle were two
iPhones purchased by Azubuike using another identification at a Valdosta
Verizon store. An iPad purchased in Atlanta used yet another
identification. An alert issued by Thomasville Police Department reached
the federal level, including the Eastern Seaboard and the Midwest.
"The feds have decided they want to adopt this case and take the case over." Detective Newberry said.
The
suspect will remain incarcerated in Thomasville until he is indicted by
a federal grand jury. He will then be transported a federal facility.
"He’s of Nigerian descent," Holmes added, pointing out a “long history” of fraudulent activity with a Nigerian connection.
The CID commander said that in his decades-long career in law
enforcement, he has never seen an identity fraud case of this magnitude.
"When he uses an identification, he gets rid of it," Newberry said.
Azubuike
is believed to have bought cell phones from Kansas to North Carolina
using fraudulent identifications. Officers
said the suspect fraudulently obtained cell phones from Verizon and
AT&T and had data transferred from phone to phone. It is believed
some phones were being shipped overseas, where new service was obtained,
and the phones were sold.
"There’s
also a terrorist connection that could be involved with these phones.
That’s why the feds are interested in it," Holmes explained.
Police
Chief Troy Rich said the Thomasville Verizon store staff is an
important aspect of the case in that employees were able to stop the
transaction and notify police.
