Published: August 22, 2008 11:19 am         

Identity theft suspect napped after multi-county forgery spree

A Laurel County man who allegedly defrauded several Madison County banks out of thousands of dollars has been captured with the help of high-tech face recognition and old-fashioned police pursuit.

Bruce Kevin Hacker, 44, of East Bernstadt, is charged with multiple crimes in connection with the theft of stolen checks from mailboxes in at least three Kentucky counties.

Hacker’s paper trail ended Thursday when he was arrested during what he thought was a routine probation check.

“The guy was on parole and his probation officer asked him to come in for a drug test,” Berea Police Department Capt. Ken Clark said. “When he did, officers from the Richmond Police Department, the Berea Police Department, the Madison County Sheriff’s Office and federal postal inspectors were there to meet him.”

Hacker’s alleged scheme to steal, thieve and defraud was first pieced together during a monthly meeting with area bank security officers in the Madison County area, Clark said.

At the time, several banks, had been “hit,” Clark said, by fraudulent checks brought into the bank, placed in the correct account and portions of the profits cashed out.

The first step in the alleged fraud was for Hacker to find mailboxes in Madison, Rockcastle and Laurel counties that held blank checks issued to postal customers through a credit card company, police said.

“Basically, people will get these checks sent to them from Visa or Discover or some other credit agency and they are blank checks,” Clark said. “They are in the cardholder’s name, but they can be made out to whomever.”

Hacker then allegedly would search for other mailboxes that contained outgoing mail.

“We have reports that he would go around searching for mailboxes with the flag up so he would know there was outgoing mail,” Clark said. “That way, he knew that there might be a check going out where someone was paying a monthly bill and he could use that check to get someone’s name and account number.”

Combining those two illicit acts, Hacker would then allegedly write a blank credit card issued check from one victim to another.

“For instance, if he had your name and account number, he would take this blank credit-issued check from one mailbox or victim and write it to you, after he had a personal check of yours he had stolen from your mail,” Clark explained. “That way, he had your name and account number and someone else’s check written to you and he would simply go to the bank and deposit it.”

Hacker, once at the bank, would not just cash the illicit check, but use the account numbers to deposit a portion and return some in cash to himself.

“We had people calling up who had $1,000 put into their account and they didn’t know where it came from,” Clark said. “Basically what was happening was that Hacker was writing the check for say, $2,000, and depositing half and getting half back in cash.”

All the while, leaving all sides of the scam in disarray.

“People were having checks written from their credit accounts cashed into someone’s they didn’t know. Other people were turning up with money from they didn’t know where and the banks were left in the lurch financially when the checks were reported stolen,” Clark said.

As the thefts were taking place, evidence concerning the identification of the individual was mounting.

“Pictures from bank surveillance and descriptions of his vehicle were coming in from Richmond, Berea and Rockcastle County,” Clark said.

These clues enabled investigators to utilize hi-tech, crime-solving tools.

Several clear facial shots of the suspect were sent to The Kentucky Intelligence Fusion Center, a division of U.S. Homeland Security.

“There were good pictures of him from the security cameras and Fusion was able to identify him through facial recognition,” Clark said. “They have access to driver’s license photos and a lot of information. They ran the pictures through and got a match.”

Once the name of the alleged perpetrator was known, police then picked up and arrested Hacker in Laurel County and brought him to Madison County for interrogation.

After the interrogation process, Richmond police placed Hacker under arrest for three counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second-degree.

“This relates to three checks Hacker passed in Richmond,” Brock said. “One at Central Bank where he deposited a check for $1,600 and received $600 in cash back, one at People’s Bank where he deposited a check for $1,500 and received $500 back from the bank and another at People’s Bank when he deposited a check for $3,400 and received $900 back from the bank.”

Berea Police also had their turn at Hacker, charging him with theft of mail matter, and three counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second-degree.

“These charges relate to three checks Hacker passed in Berea at People’s Bank,” Brock said. “One when he deposited a check in the amount of $3,500 and received $900 back from the bank, another when he deposited $4,200 and received $1,200 back and the third when he used a counter check to withdraw $1,200 in cash on another party’s account.”

Charges also will be forthcoming from the Madison County Sheriff’s Office related to other crimes, Brock said.

Hacker is lodged in the Madison County Detention Center.

At press time, Hacker’s bond had yet to be set.



Heather Harris can be reached at hharris@richmondregister.com or by phone at 624-6694 or 893-2341.

     

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