Identity Thief Busted After Buying Car In Someone Else's Name: PD

SONOMA COUNTY, CA — A Santa Rosa man is accused of using someone else's identity to buy a car from a local dealership, and detectives believe he may have stolen personal information from additional victims in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County and throughout California.

The Santa Rosa Police Department was notified about the fraudulent car loan in early September and that is when an investigation began.

Detectives identified 27-year-old Daniel McRae as the suspect and arrested him Sept. 22 while conducting surveillance near Dutton Avenue and state Highway 12.

"At the time of his arrest, McRae was in possession of significant amounts of mail and other documents containing personal identifying information for additional victims," Santa Rosa police Sgt. Christopher Mahurin said Friday in a news release.

Detectives served search warrants that same day at two residences; one in the 400 block of Link Lane and one in the 500 block of Aston Way. They also searched a storage unit in the 900 block of Hopper Avenue.

During the searches, detectives found an unregistered and loaded firearm along with evidence of fraudulent credit cards and identification cards; stolen mail, and records of personal identifying information for over 100 victims, throughout Sonoma County and the state of California, according to police.

"In most instances, McRae possessed social security numbers, birthdays, addresses, names, maiden names, and other sensitive personal information," Mahurin said. "Evidence revealed McRae used that information to obtain credit cards and loans in various victims’ names and establish online accounts for a variety of consumer services."

McRae has a criminal record and is already on formal probation for five convictions, including burglary, forgery, identity theft, and being a felon in possession of a firearm, police said.

McRae was booked into the Sonoma County Jail on suspicion of 27 new felonies, including burglary, grand theft auto, false personation (three counts), identity theft (three counts), forgery, possession of personal identifying information with priors (three counts), unauthorized possession of personal information of 10 or more victims, forgery of records, forgery of driver's license, grand theft access cards, forgery of access card to defraud, equipment for counterfeit access cards, felon in possession of a firearm, felon in possession of ammunition12, violation of probation (five counts) and forgery of vehicle registration.

McRae remained in custody Friday at Sonoma County jail where he is being held without bail Friday, records showed.

The investigation was ongoing Friday, with extensive follow-up necessary for detectives as they work to contact all possible victims of identity theft related to this case, Mahurin said.

Police released McRae's booking photo and encouraged anyone who believes they have been a victim is asked to contact SRPD Property Crimes Detective Tim Gooler at tgooler@srcity.org.

"Before reaching out, please check to see if you have possibly been a victim of identity theft (unknown lines of credit on your credit report, notified by your bank/credit union of suspicious activity on your account, etc.)," Mahurin said.