TACOMA — A Seattle couple have been accused of using a woman’s stolen identity to buy a $200,000 house in Sumner, two vehicles and more than $4,500 in household appliances.
Eric Dean Johnson, 37, has been charged by Pierce County prosecutors with three counts of identity theft and three counts of first-degree theft. Deborah Denise Monroe, 38, faces 13 charges: four counts of first-degree identity theft, four counts of first-degree theft, three counts of forgery and one count each of second-degree identity theft and second-degree theft.
Prosecutors said the couple obtained the victim’s personal information — including her name, date of birth and Social Security number — last year from unknown parties in King County. These individuals told Monroe and Johnson the woman had died, which was untrue.
According to charging papers, Monroe and Johnson then took out nearly $200,000 in loans in the woman’s name — beginning with a $159,450 mortgage loan for the Sumner house, bought in November 2002.
A month later, Monroe bought a car for $14,180 using the victim’s information, prosecutors alleged. After the car was involved in an accident in King County, the couple bought a second car — a used Jeep Wrangler that cost more than $21,000 — also using the victim’s information. That vehicle was repossessed.
The couple also used the woman’s identity to buy numerous appliances and a big-screen television, prosecutors said.
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