Document text
Identity theft arrest made A Medford man suspected of stealing another person�s identity and bilking several businesses out of thousands of dollars was arrested Wednesday. According to Medford Police Lt. Tim George, a two-day investigation led to the arrest of Billy Ray Walton, 37, at his residence in the 3000 block of Sheraton Court Wednesday. Police were tipped off to Walton�s alleged identity theft and credit scams when employees from Household Finance Corp., in Medford contacted police about a man applying for a loan for more than $10,000 on Tuesday, George said. "(Walton) gave them some suspicious information. They discovered that he didn�t own his collateral," George said. An investigation turned up evidence that Walton had allegedly defrauded three other businesses in the past month, George said. Walton � who was jailed on $60,000 bail � was charged with two counts of first-degree theft, four counts of first-degree forgery, four counts of identify theft, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and first-degree attempted aggravated theft. The stolen vehicle charge stems from an illegal transaction in which Walton allegedly purchased a 1997 Volkswagen Jetta from Lithia Motors with an illegal loan, George said. Walton is also accused of taking out an illegal loan from Umpqua Bank recently for an unknown amount of money and fraudulently obtaining credit cards from Sears. Investigators suspect Walton stole the identify of a senior citizen who lived in Bend but has since moved out of state. George said the man had the same last name as Walton. "This is a classic case of identify theft," George said. "We�re still looking into this. There could be more victims." Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.