Sgt. Dan Suttles, Media Contact
818-548-3140 (office) 
dsuttles@glendaleca.gov

On October 09, 2018, at 8:30 p.m., Glendale Police Officers responded to the Glendale Galleria Apple store in regards to a call for service for the possible use of a fraudulent identification to purchase approximately $12,000 worth of Apple products.  Upon their arrival, the officers were directed to a woman named Monae Wallace who had already exited the store.  Officers detained Ms. Wallace to investigate the possible fraud. 

When asked for identification, Ms. Wallace gave the officers a fraudulent California Driver License with the name of another person on it but with Ms. Wallace’s picture on it.  The officers were able to quickly determine the driver license was fraudulent.  After being questioned by the officers, Ms. Wallace continued to insist she was indeed the person named on the license. 

Only after being arrested for the possession of a fake driver license did Ms. Wallace admit that she was not the person named on the license, and was actually Monae Wallace of Victorville.  However, she then claimed the person named on the license was actually her grandmother.  A preliminary search, on a public database, revealed a phone number for the person named on the driver license.  When police called the phone number, a woman answered and claimed to be Ms. Wallace’s grandmother and further stated she did not object to Ms. Wallace using her name to purchase the items.  Essentially, the grandmother’s permission to use her identity would significantly reduce Ms. Wallace’s criminal exposure.  However, a more thorough investigation revealed a different phone number for the actual person named on the driver license, and when contacted the victim stated she did not even have a granddaughter and doesn’t know Ms. Wallace.  Based on this, Ms. Wallace was charged with identity theft.

Investigators have determined the fake grandmother they spoke to on the phone is actually an accomplice of Ms. Wallace’s.  Furthermore, during the investigation, several more fraudulent driver licenses were found to be possessed by Ms. Wallace, all with her picture but different names on them.  Ms. Wallace also possessed multiple credit cards with correlating names to the victims.  Investigators have linked over $100,000.00 in loss associated to the fraudulent cards.   

Ms. Wallace and her accomplice(s) used the victims’ information to create email addresses and obtain phone lines in an attempt to create legitimacy to their claims on the victims’ identities.

The investigation continues and detectives believe further arrests in this case are imminent.

Monae Wallace, 20 years of age