Identity Theft Suspect Nabbed At Home Depot

Colorado Springs police said Wednesday that they hope the arrest of a man on suspicion of identity theft will lead to more arrests and a decrease in the crime locally.

“(Suspects) end up getting to know each other and working together to commit a lot of these crimes,” said police Sgt. Darrin Abbink. “It tends to be a very team concept-type of crime, so they know other players in the game.”

Police said they arrested Johnny Gilliland, 29, on Monday after he was detained by the security staff at the Home Depot near Academy and Palmer Park boulevards. Police said Gilliland is a convicted felon who used fake ID to obtain a store credit card and charge $5,600 in merchandise during the past two weeks. It’s unclear why the fake ID wasn’t noticed earlier.

When officers searched Gilliland’s vehicle, they said they found stolen mail, numerous ID cards, other items consistent with identity theft and personal information from at least 15 people.

It’s hard to tell if these people knew their identities had been stolen or if they just had some of their property stolen and their ID hasn’t been compromised,” said Abbink. “We have to dig into this one more.”

Abbink said personal information can be stolen during burglaries and either misused or sold to others. It’s unclear exactly how the apparent identity thefts happened, he said, but a certain victim often is targeted.

“People who haven’t checked their credit rating recently, haven’t received their bills to show their credit cards have been compromised,” said Abbink. “(Identity thieves will) pass that information around, use it very quickly and dispose of it.”

Call police at 719-444-7000 if you believe you are a victim in this case or if you have information about the investigation.

Inside Gilliland’s vehicle, police said they also found illegal crystal meth, meth paraphernalia and a stolen handgun.