Fraud Charges Issued in Identity Theft Case
On July 24th, 2018, Detective Bird of the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office was assigned a fraud investigation. The victim, who lives in Frederick County, had their identity stolen and fraudulent charges were made on their bank account in excess of $16,000.
Through the assistance of allied agencies, Detective Bird was able to identify the suspect as Edgar Lopez Mercado of Bronx, New York. Lopez Mercado entered a branch of the victim’s bank in New Jersey, falsely identified himself as the victim, and was subsequently issued a new debit card for the victim’s account.
Lopez Mercado then made several large withdrawals from the bank itself as well as from an ATM.
Lopez Mercado was charged on December 4th, 2018, with 2 counts of Fraud Identity/Information Theft, $1,500 to under $25,000.
