An Assistant U.S. Attorney says the alleged thefts by the California women are the "tip of the iceberg" in a much wider conspiracy.

01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, July 19, 2006

BY RICHARD C. DUJARDIN
Journal Staff Writer

NORTH PROVIDENCE -- Three women who the police believe are part of a ring that may have swindled as much as $12 million from Bank of America by stealing the identities of other customers and withdrawing huge amounts of cash from their savings accounts are being held on federal and state charges of bank fraud and identity theft. Debbie Jolene Tucker, 44, of Wilmington; Renea Johnson, 54, of Los Angeles; and Zelpha Colleen Conyers, 53; of Inglewood, were arrested last week after an investigation by the Seekonk and North Providence police.

They are being held at the Adult Correctional Institutions.

The alleged plot to defraud Bank of America branches in Rhode Island was discovered July 11 when Tucker walked into a branch in Cranston and tried to withdraw $3,000 using an allegedly counterfeit credit card and an allegedly fake California driver's license issued to another woman, according to the North Providence police and Tom Connell, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office.

When the teller said she had to notify her manager, the woman walked out and the manager sent an alert to other branches.

A short time later, Tucker went to the Bank of America branch on Mineral Spring Avenue in North Providenceand using the name of another customer in California withdrew $1,500 in cash, the police said. Not long after, Conyers assumed another woman's identity and withdrew $4,800 from the North Providence branch on Smithfield Road, officials said.

According to the account provided by federal prosecutors, the branch manager there called the manager at Mineral Spring Avenue, who went to the Smithfield Road branch and saw Tucker, who had made the earlier withdrawal, in a car with Conyers, changing their wigs.

The manager of the Mineral Spring branch notified the police. The car drove off.

Three hours later, the Seekonk police found the three in a car bearing the same plates. The women agreed to questioning by the North Providence police.

The police searched the women's motel room on Route 6 in Seekonk and seized California drivers' licenses and credit cards alleged to be fakes, and Social Security cards in the names of 10 women living in California. They also found internal bank profiles for seven customers that contain personal and financial information, including dates of birth and Social Security numbers. The police also seized computer printouts of maps pinpointing Bank of America branches in Florida.

They also seized more than $10,000 in cash and nine wigs that the women allegedly used to make themselves resemble the pictures on the drivers' licenses.

They were charged last week and ordered held at the ACI on $250,000 cash bail on eight state counts of identity theft, obtaining money under false pretenses, possession of counterfeit credit cards and devices to make the counterfeit cards, and larceny and conspiracy.

The three were brought before Magistrate Lincoln Almond Jr. in U.S. District Court yesterday. All waived their right to a hearing on whether there was enough evidence to hold each on federal charges.

The case will be presented to a grand jury.

Connell said that while Johnson did not withdraw money from the North Providence branches, she was was linked to the conspiracy because she rented the car and motel room under an assumed identity and was in the car when the withdrawals occurred.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee H. Vilker said there was an indication that that the alleged thefts were the "tip of the iceberg" in a much wider conspiracy.

At a news conference at North Providence police headquarters, Deputy Chief Paul Marino said law enforcement authorities believe the women received the information needed to pose as Bank of America customers from a bank employee who had access to customer profiles and that as much as $12 million may have been taken from the bank in a thousand thefts over two years.

Marino believes the women were sent to Rhode Island by the ringleaders. The women arrived on a Southwest Airlines flight from California on July 10 and had return tickets for last Friday.

rdujardi@projo.com / (401) 277-7384