A woman U.S. Marshals call “the check casher” for the ID
theft ring accused of stealing Ben Bernanke’s
wife’s purse was arrested yesterday in Miami.
Shonya Michelle Young, 28, is the girlfriend of the number
three leader in “Cannon to the Wiz,” a nationwide pick pocketing organization,
according to a spokesman for the marshals.
Young was arrested near Miami International Airport and had
several wigs in her possession as well as fraudulent New York identity and
check cards when she was arrested. She is the ninth member of Cannon to the Wiz
to be arrested. Law enforcement agencies are still searching for six more
suspects.
The ring operates by stealing wallets or purses and using
the personal identification, check cards, checks and credit cards to steal
identities and drain their victims’ bank accounts. Authorities say they stole
more than $2 million in the past year.
Anna Bernanke was victimized last August when her purse was
stolen from the back of her chair while she was in a Washington D.C. area
Starbucks. The thieves then used her driver’s license, Social Security card and
checkbook to withdraw money from the joint account she shared with her husband.
There is still an outstanding arrest warrant for George Lee
Ried who, according to a federal affidavit, deposited money from the Bernankes’
bank account into another victim’s hijacked account, and then withdrew $9,000
from the second account.
Authorities to Young to a federal detention center in
downtown Miami yesterday, but she will be taken to Virginia where the case is
being prosecuted.