ID theft case with a Napa twist

By Register Staff

In Philadelphia, police consider her half of what they call the “Bonnie and Clyde of Identity Theft.” In Napa, she is a barista at a coffee house.

Jocelyn Kirsch, along with one-time boyfriend Ed Anderton, faces serious charges in Philadelphia of stealing her neighbors’ identities and using them to obtain fraudulent credit cards. She now works at a coffee house in Napa, the city the Federal Trade Commission considers the identity theft capital of the country.

Is Napa the Identity Theft capital of the U.S.?

On Dec. 7, 2007, Philadelphia police arrested Kirsch and Anderton on suspicion of several crimes including identity theft, burglary, unlawful use of a computer and forgery. Kirsch, who is out on bail pending a May 12 court date in Philadelphia, moved in with family members in Novato shortly after her arrest.

Kirsch has not been charged with any crime in Napa, though she twice has pleaded guilty to theft elsewhere, according to Philadelphia police.

She could not be reached for this story, and her Philadelphia attorney and members of her family declined comment.

But Terry Sweeney, a detective in the Philadelphia Police Department, says Kirsch’s Napa job represents “a big leap forward. She’s currently under supervision. She has a court date up and coming. She’s trying to prove she’s an upstanding and legitimate member of society. She’s probably one of the safest employees ... just because so many people are watching her.”

The Philadelphia Police Department say they caught up with Kirsch and Anderton on Nov. 30, 2007, at a UPS Store in what’s known as the University section of Philadelphia.

Kirsch and Anderton were there to pick up packages containing lingerie and chocolates that they obtained with stolen credit cards, according to Sweeney.

“Their trail was like (following) a bleeding elephant in a snow storm,” Sweeney said. “This isn’t a case of outstanding police work ... these two made it easy.”

According to Sweeney, a woman alerted her credit card company after noticing some fraudulent charges on her statement, charges later attributed to Kirsch and Anderton. Another woman, a hairstylist in the Philadelphia area, reported to police that Kirsch had passed a phony check worth $1,700 for hair extension work.

Since the arrest, several news outlets have reported on Anderton and Kirsch, including Rolling Stone magazine. According to the Philadelphia Daily News, Kirsch, 22, was a Drexel University student and former member of the sorority Delta Phi Epsilon. Anderton, 25, is a 2005 graduate of University of Pennsylvania.

Sweeney said that Kirsch and Anderton first began stealing identities when they met, in the winter of 2006.

He said a search of the couple’s apartment yielded four computers; an industrial laminating machine that police said the couple used to make phony identification cards; three safes; $18,000 worth of cash; dozens of phony ID cards; keys to apartments in their complex along with keys to the outside mailboxes; and documents belonging to their neighbors.

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