A Denver grand jury indicted five defendants last week in an identity theft crime ring. Shadwick Weaver, the ringleader, is in custody and being held on $500,000 bond. Weaver has been indicted on 65 counts. Three of the others indicted by the grand jury are also in custody; a fifth defendant is at large.

During a joint investigation by the economic crimes units of the Aurora Police Department and the Denver District Attorney’s office, detectives discovered almost 300 fraudulent IDs, employee IDs, and counterfeit checks and credit cards.

They also discovered dozens of victims that include merchants and individuals who lost thousands of dollars. The crime ring targeted grocery stores, hotels and liquor stores and used what they called “temporary credit cards”—cards the thieves made that had no magnetic strips. When clerks asked about the unusual cards, Weaver and the others explained they had been issued temporary cards and would then manually enter stolen credit card numbers on the merchants’ credit card keypads.

Investigators have linked the defendants to methamphetamine trafficking, which they believe was funded by the identity thefts. Financial and personal information was obtained by breaking into cars and burglarizing homes and businesses.

Charges against the five include theft, identity theft, forgery and conspiracy to commit theft, conspiracy to commit identity theft, conspiracy to commit forgery and conspiracy to commit computer crime.

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