Woman steals ID of former boyfriend
By Nick Hiltunen
Published in News on May 21, 2008 2:06 PM
Wayne authorities say a Goldsboro area woman used her ex-boyfriend's identity to create a credit account, then confirmed it using her new boyfriend's telephone number.
Then, a detective said, Lemeka Angeria Kornegay, 26, Millers Chapel Road, used the HSBC (Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corpor-ation Ltd.) card to make purchases.
Those purchases went unnoticed by Ms. Kornegay's former boyfriend, Jamar Patterson, until he was contacted by a collection agency, a detective said.
Patterson did some investigation and found that the card had actually been sent to his address in the Goldsboro area, according to authorities.
"He worked during the day, she had access to this mailbox, and they still 'talked,'" a detective who investigated the case said.
Authorities said they have reason to believe that Ms. Kornegay removed the HSBC card from Patterson's mailbox.
Detective Lt. R. Thomas Flores Jr., who handles the majority of the financial cases assigned to the Wayne County Sheriff's Office, said every case of identity fraud can be a cautionary tale.
"Anybody that you deal with can steal your identity, and use it. If there's a will and a way, they're going to get your information," he said.
Ms. Kornegay was charged with financial identity theft and financial credit card theft, according to a news release.
Financial credit card theft is a Class I felony in North Carolina. Identity theft is a Class G felony, unless the victim "suffers arrest, detention or conviction as a ... result of the offense," according to state law.
Class I felonies are punishable by five years in prison, fines or both. Class G felonies are punishable by 15 years in prison, fines or both punishments, according to state law.