A 45-year-old woman who has been squatting in a Queen Anne home for the last couple of weeks was arrested by Seattle police on suspicion of fraud and identity theft spanning across multiple states earlier today, according to Detective Jeff Kappel, who published the following information on the SPD Blotter.
On May 12th officers began investigating a complicated fraud/identity theft/criminal impersonation situation in which a female suspect had attempted to lease a residence using a false name and then managed to occupy it without making any payment. The residence in question is located in the 2700 block of 5th Avenue West.
After some investigation SPD officers discovered that the suspect had two felony fraud warrants from Nevada out on her. Officers attempted to contact her at the house but were unsuccessful until, at approximately 7:45 a.m. today, Wednesday, May 25, they located her driving in the alleyway in the 2400 block of 4th Avenue West. The suspect was then taken into custody, at which time “numerous identification documents in different names” were found in her possession.
The suspect was booked into the King County Jail on Investigation of Criminal Impersonation and Investigation of Fugitive. A preliminary investigation of her local crimes estimates the total financial loss to be over $10,000, according to the report. Seattle Police Fraud, Forgery and Financial Exploitation (FFFE) detectives will be handling an on-going investigation of this incident.