Search Nets Hundreds of Bank Cards, Social Security Nos., Tax Forms

Probation officers keeping check on an offender serving time outside prison walls uncovered yesterday a cache of financial transaction cards and documents in a local motel room. The find may indicate police have numerous cases of ID theft on their hands.

Chief Tommy Culpepper said this morning in a press release his department's Criminal Investigations Division also took part in the probation search of the apartment, which resulted in the arrests of two people.

Thomas Bruce Henley, 54, and Mary Theresa Merritt, 34—both apparently residents of the extended-stay motel—were initially charged with theft by receiving stolen property, but additional accusations may result as the investigation progresses.

In the apartment, investigators found more than 100 credit and debit cards; notebooks containing hundreds of names, addresses and Social Security numbers; and numerous financial forms, including blank federal tax returns, tax documents sent to area homes and credit card applications, officials said in the release. 

Based on a preliminary probe, investigators believe Henley and Merritt, the probationer, targeted incarcerated individuals, using their identities to obtain credit cards, tax refunds and other financial information. Police have cancelled credit cards found during the search.

Cartersville authorities will team with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which specializes in cyber crime, including ID theft, and other local law enforcement agencies during the ongoing investigation.

Lt. Mark Camp, CPD's public information officer, said probation officials initiating the search had been focused on Merritt, who was convicted of aggravated stalking. 

"[She] was known to use marijuana, hence the reason for the probation search," Camp added.

Henley is no stranger to pot, Department of Corrections records indicate. He was in and out of state prison from 1977 and 2005, serving nine terms of incarceration, according to DOC records.

While allegations that led to Henley's earlier prison sentences are unclear, his latest criminal convictions, from 1998 to 2000, include the possession, sale and distribution of marijuana and terroristic threats and acts.

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