Roommate steals ID, cash, credit

A Superior man accused of stealing his roommate’s identity and using it to rack up more than $33,000 in fraudulent charges – including a loan on a 2007 pick-up truck – will return to Douglas County Circuit Court next week for a preliminary hearing.

Glen Taylor, 33, faces six felony counts – fraudulent credit card use, fraud against a financial institution, identity theft and three counts of uttering a forgery – stemming from a number of bogus transactions that took place in December. His preliminary hearing set for Wednesday was adjourned to next week after Taylor waived time limits on the case.

Five days before Christmas, the man whose identity was stolen called Superior police to report that someone had used his credit card and checks without his permission. Recent charges of $2,600 had been made on his credit card, he told a Superior police officer, and three checks were missing from his checkbook. One of the checks had been written out to a Superior business for $259.48 and two checks totaling $1,200 had been written out to Taylor. The man told the officer that he did not write the checks, nor did he give anyone permission to write them. At the time, he mentioned that he was missing his driver’s license.

Days later, the man reported that he had received a letter from a local bank welcoming him to the family for apparently taking out a $29,196.20 loan for a light gray 2007 Chevrolet Silverado Classic extended cab pickup truck.

According to the complaint, the man whose identity was stolen found one of his bank statements in Taylor’s room and the bank had video surveillance showing Taylor cashing the forged checks. The truck was purchased using the victim’s driver’s license and social security number and the man purchasing it had the same background story that Taylor gave to his roommate. The financial manager at the car dealership told Detective Mike Jaszczak that he “did not really look at the photo on the Wisconsin D.L. [driver’s license] that he presented, which was Gary Proffit’s D.L.,” the complaint stated.

Further investigation revealed that Taylor was on probation in Burnett County for stealing a check from his father and buying a Ford Mustang without his father’s permission, according to the criminal complaint.

Taylor remains in custody in the Douglas County Jail in lieu of $3,000 cash bail. If convicted, he faces a combined maximum penalty of up to 40 years and six months in jail.

Tags: news, fraud, credit, superior, bank, courts