On October 25th at around 12:30 p.m., East Precinct patrol officers responded to a report of identity theft at a hotel in the 1100 block of Broadway. The adult male victim was waiting for police in the hotel lobby after getting a call from his credit card company informing him that someone had used his credit card information to book a room at the hotel. Officers went to the room in question and found two adult male suspects inside. Officers observed in plain view on the beds and tables were several cell phones, lap top computers, a WiFi hot spot, router, and papers with credit card numbers. Fraud Forgery Financial Exploitation detectives were called and responded to the scene to investigate. Detectives obtained a search warrant for both the hotel room and the suspects’ vehicle which was parked just outside the hotel.
Fraud unit detectives conducted a search of the room. During the search the detectives recovered the following items: cell phones, lap top computers, computer hard drives, iPod touches, various electronic storage devices, various forms of written documentation of the suspects’ activities, magnetic card readers, routers, hotspots and computer peripherals along with unidentified pills and methamphetamine.
The search of the vehicle was conducted at the SPD Processing Room by Narcotics Unit detectives. The search revealed additional evidence of identity theft. At this time it there are an undetermined number of victims in this case.
The two adult male suspects were booked into King County Jail for Investigation of Identity Theft.