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Wannabe Baiter Joined: 24 Oct 2008 Posts: 80

Posted on Fri, Nov. 27, 2009
Winchester woman unknowingly funded terrorist group, police say
By Greg Kocher

A Winchester woman is behind bars on a charge related to her unknowingly funding an overseas terrorist organization, police said.

Betty Stidham, 54, was arrested Wednesday and charged with one felony count of unauthorized use of a credit card, said Winchester Police Detective Danny Thomas.

Stidham used stolen credit card numbers given to her by a Nigerian man to buy thousands of dollars worth of merchandise, Thomas said. Stidham then shipped the merchandise — including clothes, shoes and electronics — to the man, whom authorities believe is affiliated with a terrorist group.

"I'm quite confident she did not know there was terrorism involved," Thomas said. The individual balances on the stolen credit card accounts ranged in the neighborhood of $30,000 to $40,000, he said.

Stidham sent two to three packages overseas each week since April, and for each box she was paid $135, Thomas said. Stidham — whose husband, Walter, died in 2006 — had become acquainted over the Internet with a man who called himself Kelvin Scott, and she thought he was going to marry her, Thomas said.

The U.S. Secret Service is investigating the case. That agency became involved when Central Bank in Winchester put a holder on a $6,000 check with which Stidham had tried to open an account, Thomas said.

Cases similar to Stidham's "apparently are going on all over the United States," Thomas said.

Unauthorized use of a credit card is a Class D felony punishable by one to five years in prison.

Stidham remained lodged Friday in the Clark County jail in lieu of a $2,500 cash bond.

Jail personnel and Thomas did not know when Stidham will be arraigned in Clark District Court, but they said they anticipate it will be early next week.

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 11:36 pm

Link to original news article here:----> Click.

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 11:37 pm

Thanks for posting that story Hollow

How sad ?!

Yet another victim of a Romance Scam falls foul of the law. Crying or Very sad

See this page ...there is a video news clip near the top centre.

http://www.wkyt.com/home/headlines/73679417.html?storySection=comments#commentSection

I think I heard the detective say something like "she had a a big time organisation goin' on here "

Posted: Sat Nov 28, 2009 10:47 am

Quote:

Cases similar to Stidham's "apparently are going on all over the United States," Thomas said.

No "apparently" about it. If this detective is so uninformed, I wonder if he's right about a terrorist connection?

Posted: Sat Nov 28, 2009 3:03 pm

The only terrorism going on is terrorizing lonely, vulnerable people and convincing them that what they are doing is for good.

That police detective is either sadly misinformed or trying to make himself look like he's cracked a major crime ring. If the Secret Service is indeed involved (which I don't ddoubt, BTW) , they may soon disabuse him of that notion.

OTOH, the story may make another would-be victim think twice before buying things on behalf of a man she met over the internet and shipping them to Africa.

Posted: Sat Nov 28, 2009 5:40 pm

Not all terrorists live in the middle east. Remeber the bombing in Nigeria during the Clinton years? Anywhere the potential for an extremist orgainization exists they are usually there. The MO is similar to that of a street gang but with religious overtones. Usually young adults (with the requisite heads full of mush), poor, unengaged in anything "meaningful" to them, displaced, religiously (not trying to generalize by religion but Islamic seems to be a large denomination involved) driven.

From what I read here, it is my opinion that we do not see too many jihadis rollin' on the 419. It is possible, but they would be more one tracked and probably quick to drop you if you mess around too much. I would be intereested to know if anyone has had a potential jihadi bait!

The authorities may just be going off of a name and associating it with a know terrorist or group. Unfortunately, they have their "John Smiths" as well.

Posted: Sat Nov 28, 2009 7:07 pm

This lad had her buying shoes, clothes, and consumer electronic goods. Doesn't sound like a terrorist to me.
Terrorist scammers would surely be after WU cash transfers.

Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2009 12:07 am

No need to quote the post directly above, use ^^ instead. 7/9

I agrees. It sounds more like the work of what I like to call "the fast lane changer." IOW a crook who use his charms to snare unsuspecting victims, collect geniunely purchased merchandise from them with forged or stolen credit cards, turn around and sells these goods to new victims, yet fast enough not to be caught by the police while pocketing the difference. The result - The victims, the stores and the credit card companies all get financially violated while the criminal get away with the money and no paper trial to follow. These type of crooks are always on the run and usually quite hard to catch. Mad

Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2009 1:19 am

The Detective in the video clips says something like "she had a big time organisation goin' on here " and "according the the Secret Service this [proceeds of the scam] is in support of terrorism"

The Secret Service might as well add Lotto, craigslist, job offers/employment, and dead relative scams to the list and prosecute those victims as well, because most the proceeds of all these scams goes exactly in the same direction.

***** I think she is now only up against CC Fraud but the Secret Service continue to investigate in hope that "it will lead to the bigger fish overseas"