Sacto 9-1-1: Women in alleged ID theft ring went on $1 million shopping spree

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Sacto 9-1-1

The Sacramento Bee's Crime blog is a comprehensive report of crime news, trends and information for your community and beyond.

July 15, 2008

Women in alleged ID theft ring went on $1 million shopping spree

Six Bay Area women who allegedly used stolen credit card information to buy more than $1 million of merchandise from malls along Interstate 80 between Sacramento and San Francisco have been arrested by a team of high-tech crime investigators.

Task force officials say the women are part of an identity theft and credit card fraud ring with international ties. They have identified more than 400 victim account holders in the United States, Europe, Japan and Australia.

"They were just on a crime wave," says Capt. Jim Cooper, a member of the Sacramento County Sheriff's office and commander of the Sacramento Valley Hi-Tech Crimes Task Force. The task force - comprised of 33 local, state and federal law enforcement agencies - has been investigating the ring since January.

The six women, between the ages of 21 and 37, all have connections to the city of Richmond. Combined, they face more than 180 charges of identity theft and fraud. Three have pleaded guilty and are facing four to eight years in prison. The other three are awaiting trial.

The ring is still under investigation. Officials believe it has a dozen more members.

-- Andrea V. Brambila

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Q: What happened to the former boxing champ who murdered a prominent lawyer in the 1990s?

A: Timmothy Howard Harris was sentenced to 58 years to life in prison on Dec. 4, 1997, for the murder of Sacramento attorney Francis W. "Bud" Zilaff, according to Bee reports.

Harris, then 41 and a former boxing champion, was convicted of invading Zilaff's midtown Sacramento office July 3, 1997, and fatally shooting the 68-year-old attorney, who represented Harris' former wife in a long, bitter divorce case that left Harris in debt. Harris also was found guilty of assaulting five office employees.

The month long trial, which drew a steady stream of onlookers, ended Nov. 6, 1997, with jurors rejecting Harris' claim that police officers had "gotten the wrong guy."

Judge Greta Curtis Crossland, who had little discretion under California's sentencing laws, used what little latitude she had to give the former state welterweight champion an extra five years in prison, The Bee reported.

Crossland said she was doing so because of Harris' callousness in threatening employees with a loaded 9mm handgun and because of his deceit in using a disguise and gloves.

Zilaff was shot at his desk with no time to even "plead for his life before he was executed," Crossland said.

Deputy District Attorney Tom Johnson said Harris received "basically a life sentence."

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