COPLEY TWP.: Police detectives are investigating eight cases of identity theft.
All involved homeowners in a new development off Hametown Road — five from the same block.
“We’re not exactly sure where the compromise took place,” police Chief Michael Mier told trustees during a meeting Wednesday evening.
The first reports came in Nov. 20, he said, and the most recent was Jan. 10.
Mier later said the only common thread his detectives have discovered so far is that the majority of mortgages for homes where the reports originated were financed through the same builder.
He said the identity thieves used the information obtained to open accounts in the homeowners’ names “with various companies in different parts of the country.”
“They could be anywhere,” Mier said.
He told trustees the department has requested assistance from the U.S. Secret Service in the investigation because of the federal agency’s familiarity with identity theft cases. He said neighbors in the Hillside neighborhood also have been alerted to the problem.
