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Minnesota Woman Charged with Identity Theft

Minnesota Woman Charged with Identity Theft
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By West Kentucky Star Staff
May. 22, 2018 | PADUCAH, KY
By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 22, 2018 | 11:03 PM | PADUCAH, KY
A woman originally from Minnesota has been arrested after an investigation into thefts from vehicles led to identity theft charges.

On February 13, the McCracken County Sheriff's Department started investigating a theft from a vehicle at Kiddie Kottage Day Care on Husband Road. The victim said someone broke her vehicle's window and took her purse.

As detectives investigated, they learned that on March 16 someone tried to cash checks at several Lexington-area banks by writing them payable to the Paducah victim's stolen identity. The checks had been taken from a victim in Montgomery County around March 15, using a similar method, known as "smash and grab."

Using bank surveillance video and through cooperation with federal, state, and local agencies across the country, including police from North and South Carolina, Florida, and the U.S. Marshals Service, the suspect was identified as 21-year-old Kala Hameister, who is originally from Minneapolis. Detectives learned she is allegedly part of the "Felony Lane Gang," an organized group of burglary and theft rings. Detectives say the group's members steal from vehicles and use the victim's identities to cash checks at bank drive-through windows. The gang name comes from the suspects' use of the lane farthest from the teller window, as they try to keep their identity theft activity concealed.

Detectives got an arrest warrant for Hameister for identity theft, and learned that similar warrants had recently been issued in Fayette County.

Last Thursday, May 17, Hameister was arrested in Louisville during a drug investigation. She was also served with the arrest warrants, and is awaiting extradition back to McCracken County. 

The Sheriff's Department reminds everyone to lock their vehicles and to secure their valuables by removing them, hiding them, or placing them in the trunk.
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