Citizens assist Shoreline police in capture of individual attempting to purchase a vehicle with stolen identity

Fingerprint on black grid with teal lines.
Points of comparison are marked with dots.
Photo courtesy KCSO

Shoreline police report, August 25, 2020

On 08/25/2020 at 3:56PM, City of Shoreline deputies were dispatched to a report of a suspected fraudulent purchase of a vehicle in the 17500 block of Aurora Ave N.

Deputies arrived on scene and spoke with an employee of the car lot. The employee stated that the suspect, who was in the car sales office at the time, was attempting to purchase a vehicle using an identity the employee thought was suspicious.

The driver’s license photo didn’t match and the phone number given was different from the phone number on the credit report. Further, the employee stated he called the phone number on the credit report and spoke with the person whose name was given, who stated he was not trying to purchase a vehicle.

Deputies contacted the suspect and asked his name. The deputies asked if the name he gave was truly his and he stated “Yeah, it should be." When the deputy informed him that he would be verifying his identity via a portable fingerprint scanner, the suspect sprinted from the sales office and took off on foot, northbound. The suspect was seen jumping a fence and landing on his wrist.

As the deputy drove northbound, he was waved down by a passerby who pointed in the direction of a parking lot in the 17900 block of Aurora Avenue North. That was when the deputy spotted the suspect being held by two men. As he was being detained, the suspect mentioned that his wrist was broken. The fire department was called for his injury.

Using the fingerprint reader, the deputy discovered the man's true identity. A search of his person after arrest revealed the ID of another person, and credit cards matching the name of the stolen ID.

After medical treatment, the man was booked in to the King County Jail for investigation of Identity Theft.