California Man Arrested for Identity Theft in Wilton, Found With Resident's Mail and Credit Card: Police

WILTON, CT — Wilton Police are asking residents in the Thunder Lake Road and Pipers Hill Road areas of Wilton to check and monitor their credit reports after a California man was arrested on identity theft charges Wednesday.

After receiving several reports of mail theft from Thunder Lake Road residents, police say the received a report of a Pipers Hill Road resident who saw a suspicious vehicle take mail from someone's mailbox. Police later set up surveillance in the north end of town, and arrested Elijah Jamel Chin, 26, of Gardenia, CA, who was found to have mail and a credit card in the name of a Pipers Hill Road resident in his lap.

Chin was charged with larceny, identity theft, attempt at trafficking in personal identifying information and possession of less than one-half ounce of marijuana. He was released on bond and is due to appear in Norwalk Superior Court on March 6.

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Police say the investigation is still ongoing, and are asking residents to check their credit reports for any suspicious inquiries or accounts that they did not authorize. Residents are asked to report the crime to their local police department, and are offering tips to identity theft victims.

• Keep a log of all conversations related to the crime and keep all correspondences related to the crime.
• Cancel any fraudulent or compromised accounts.
• Place a fraud alert on your credit report by contacting one of the three credit bureaus to report the crime:

Equifax (800) 525-6285, www.equifax.com;

Experian (888) 397-3742, www.experian.com; or

TransUnion (800) 680-7289, www.transunion.com.

• Once a fraud alert is in place, you are entitled to free copies of your credit report.
• Visit the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) website IdentityTheft.gov, the federal government’s one-stop resource to help you report and recover from identity theft.

Image via the Wilton Police Department.