4 indicted in county recorder’s office identity theft case

A state grand jury has indicted four people in connection with the theft of customer identities from the Pinal County Recorder's Office.

 

The four Florence defendants, Larry Garcia, Albert Robbs, Cheryl Ann Parsons, and her mother Carol Louise Lewis, face charges including fraud, forgery, identity theft and drug crimes.

 

County Sheriff Paul Babeu called for the resignation of County Recorder Laura Dean-Lytle nearly three months ago after it was found that she placed a known felon, Albert Robbs, in his position.

 

Dean-Lytle hired Robbs in May 2003, a year following his release from the Arizona Department of Corrections. He served almost three years for a theft charge stemming from the burglary of a storage facility in Pinal County. Dean-Lytle's daughter, also charged in the crime, was sentenced to probation.

 

The Sheriff's Office began to investigate Dean-Lytle following the Dec.16 arrest of Albert Robbs, 51, on suspicion of theft, taking the identity of another and impairing the availability of a public record.

 

Throughout the investigation the sheriff's office was able to gather information accusing Robbs of stealing checks submitted to the recorder's office and then turning them over to Garcia as payment for drugs.

 

Robbs faces a combined 46 counts, including trafficking in the identity of another person and assisting a criminal syndicate, and Garcia, 47, faces 12 counts, including possession of dangerous narcotics for sale and conspiracy to commit trafficking in the identity of another person.

 

The county's investigation also alleges that Garcia passed the checks along to Parsons and Lewis to purchase merchandise.

 

The two women combined are facing more than 85 counts including forgery, aggravated identity theft, possession of dangerous and narcotic drugs for sale, and fraudulent schemes and artifices racking up nearly $100,000 in retail purchases.