Portland, Ore. – Merle Duane Hicks, 47, of Portland was sentenced on Wednesday, January 9, 2008 by U.S. District Judge Garr M. King to credit for time served, which totals five months. Additionally, Hicks must serve six months in a half-way house to be followed by 3 years of supervised release. Hicks was also ordered to pay restitution in the sum of $6,270.29 to a Las Vegas, Nevada bank. Hicks had previously entered a guilty plea to conspiracy to commit identity theft on September 27, 2007.
This joint investigation by the Clackamas County Special Investigations Unit (SIU) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS)-Criminal Investigation also resulted in convictions of Kathleen Mae Olinger, of Sandy, Oregon, William Duane Kennedy, of Portland, Oregon and Karla Jo Strandberg, of Warren, Oregon, for identity theft crimes. All four were indicted in March of 2006 on charges of conspiracy to commit identity theft. Olinger and Kennedy were also indicted for possession of false identification documents, and drug charges related to the distribution of methamphetamine. Items forfeited in this investigation include computers, printers, a digital camera and other items used for identity theft purposes.
Hicks, currently in federal custody, admitted in his plea agreement that he created counterfeit payroll checks and helped create identifications for the purpose of cashing illegal checks. Hicks also possessed a false Oregon driver’s license with his picture, but with the identity information of another person.
According to Kennedy’s plea agreement, between March 2002 and August 2003, he conspired to fraudulently obtain identification of other people intending to create false government documents (including a false Oregon driver’s license), in order to commit crimes of fraud and theft. He also pled guilty to maintaining a residence (on Foster Road in Portland during August of 2003) for the distribution of methamphetamine. He further acknowledged possessing methamphetamine. Kennedy was sentenced to five years of probation, with six months of home confinement.
According to Strandberg’s plea agreement, in March of 2002 she allowed Merle Hicks and others to use her computer to produce false identity documents. This included a false Oregon driver’s license with the picture of Merle Hicks, but with the identity information of another person. Strandberg also acknowledged possessing a quantity of methamphetamine in March of 2002, while at a residence on S. Marjorie Lane in Oregon City. Strandberg was sentenced to three years of probation.
According to Olinger’s plea agreement, she conspired with Kennedy, Strandberg and Hicks to commit identity theft. Olinger was sentenced to five years probation and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $6,270.29.
“Victims of Identity theft are usually the last to know they have been victimized,” said Kenneth Hines, the IRS Special Agent in Charge for the Pacific Northwest. “IRS-CI is pleased to work with our law enforcement counterparts to be an end to this scourge that turns victims’ lives upside down.”
This case was investigated by the Clackamas County Special Investigations Unit and the IRS – Criminal Investigation Division and prosecuted by Assistant U. S. Attorney Johnathan Haub.
