Two-year investigation into theft, fraud leads to 19 indictments in Wood County

6/7/2013

A two-year investigation of retail fraud, retail theft, scamming credit cards, and use of clone credit cards led to 19 indictments in Wood County this week, authorities said at a news conference today in Perrysburg Township.

Eleven of the 19 were arrested Wednesday. U. S. Marshals of the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitives Task Force and Wood County Sheriffs Office received three search warrants while apprehending those individuals that led to additional evidence to the investigation. The investigation is still open. The eight still are currently being pursued by the departments.

"We're in the six figures easily," Sgt. Jim Gross said, of the Perrysburg Township police. "This is happening all over, it's everywhere. Think about just about every retailer it has been occurring at. Primarily at the construction, home-improvement businesses because some of this was being funneled back into construction trades."

Most of the indictments were for felonies of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity. There are two possession of heroin indictments too, money laundering, and receiving stolen property. Sergeant Gross said most the suspects are from Toledo but they have gone as far south as Columbus, west to Indiana, and north into Michigan. 

Sergeant Gross said a number of departments worked together on this case including Perrysburg Township, Perrysburg, Maumee, Holland, the Ohio State Patrol, Secret Service, and Toledo police.

"Don't allow your credit card out of your sight," Sergeant Gross said. "Individuals getting that credit card out of your view are skimming that credit card and taking the information on the magnet strip and it's being encoded onto other strips."

These are the suspects police are still pursuing: Jessica Sanchez, 25, of Dayton; Jacqueline McGhee, 30, of Toledo; Anastasha White, 28, of Toledo; Jamaine Williams Jr., 32, of Toledo; Curtis Anderson, 32, of Toledo; Cletus Anderson, 48, of Toledo; Gregory Harris Jr., 28, of Toledo; and Gregory Harris Sr., 55, of Toledo.

These 11 were arrested Wednesday: Leon Jackson, 48, of Toledo; Frankie Rayford, 33, of Toledo; Frankie Rayford Sr., 55, of Toledo; Jeremy Sims, 33, of Perrysburg; Otha Randall Jr. [O.J.], 19, of Toledo; Otha Randall, 49, of Toledo; Pierre Cunningham, 58, of Toledo; Cassandra Hall, 48, of Toledo; Timothy Derby, 46, of Perrysburg; Amber Jones, 23, of Toledo; and Ashley Jones, 27, of Toledo.

Contact Matt Thompson at: mthompson@theblade.com, 419-356-8786, or on Twitter at @mthompson25.