ID Theft Ring Swiped $1 Million, Feds Say

SANTA ANA, Calif. - Six L.A.-area residents were arrested and one is a fugitive from bank fraud conspiracy charges: stealing identities, and more than $1 million, from JP Morgan Chase customers, federal prosecutors said.

The defendants got confidential information on "hundreds" of Chase Bank customers nationwide and used it to withdraw money from their accounts, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement. Many of the victims were elderly.

The ringleader, Hardy Jones, 54, of South Los Angeles, is being held without bond, the U.S. attorney said.

Jones is accused of sending runners to Chase banks to get the money, and paying them one-fourth to one-third of it. He did this in and around Los Angeles, and at Chase branches in Illinois, Texas and Wisconsin, prosecutors said.

He also kept a ledger of the names of his victims, their account numbers and other identifying information, according to the U.S. attorney.

Also arrested were Llewellyn Dickson, 48, of South Los Angeles;

Raymond Goodie, 56, of Long Beach;

Takisha Johnson, 37, of South Los Angeles;

Andrea Hadley, 44, of South Los Angeles;

and Patricia Green, 59, of Los Angeles.

Brigette Boylan, 50, of Inglewood, is a fugitive.

All seven are charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, which is punishable by up to 30 years in federal prison.

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