Public Bulletins
Incident: "Financial Crimes" Division
A month-long identity theft investigation concluded in the pre-dawn hours of Friday, June 23, 2006 when the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office "Financial Crimes" Division detectives and the Sheriff's Office Swat Team executed a search warrant at 8219 Skysail Avenue Apartment B, Baton Rouge, LA and the subsequent of arrest of the apartment tenant, Jeanette Lekizzy Idoshia Foucher, who was a Hurricane Katrina evacuee.
The investigation was initiated when a student from Indiana reported that a person or persons somehow obtained her personal identifiers i.e., date of birth and driver's license number, to obtain and attempt to obtain credit cards in her name. She discovered numerous inquires into her credit history and then learned that credit cards that were issued in her name were used in the Baton Rouge area.
The search yielded lists of names of individuals from outside of Louisiana along with their dates of birth and social security numbers. In some instances they even included the person's place of employment and the mother's maiden name. Those individuals are being contacted to determine if they, too, are victims of identity theft. Some credit cards, along with a list of fifty-one credit card numbers, were also found and are being checked to ascertain if they were fraudulently obtained. It was discovered that three different checking accounts were fraudulently opened. Credit reports, too, were found. Additionally, packages and invoices were found addressed to persons not residing at or connected to the Skysail address. Marijuana, Ecstasy, .45 cal Hi-Point, and drug paraphernalia were also discovered during the search.
Jeanette Foucher was arrested and booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on the following charges: Identity Theft; Computer Fraud; Access Device Fraud; Fraudulent Acquisition of Credit Cards; Felony Theft; Possession of Schedule I narcotics; and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.