CAPE CORAL, Fla. — A Georgia man was arrested in Cape Coral because police say he tried to use stolen identity information to buy a luxury vehicle worth tens of thousands of dollars.
Watch Cape Coral Community Correspondent Bella Line report on the thief who was caught right at their doorstep:
Cape Coral Police responded to a house on June 11 after a notary arrived with paperwork for the purchase of a 2023 Mercedes G-Wagon that the homeowner never ordered.
Police say the victim's wife immediately recognized something was wrong when she saw her husband's name on a driver's license that the notary had, but the license had someone else's photo.
Police say while she was speaking with the notary, an Uber minivan arrived carrying Ronald B. Hatten, 59, whose photo matched the fraudulent license.
The woman confronted Hatten, who claimed he was there to sign paperwork, according to police.
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“He was planning on meeting the notary outside, but the notary got there first, so they started talking with the suspect," said Mercedes Simonds, with the Cape Coral Police Department. “The suspect actually was on the phone with somebody. They were saying, 'Hey, get out of there. Get an Uber.'”
The homeowner managed to get a picture of Hatten's phone screen, which captured evidence of instructions related to the fraud scheme, according to Cape Coral Police.
Simonds says Hatten told police that he had traveled from Atlanta at the request of an associate and was to be paid $500 for his role in the scheme.
Officers say they discovered Hatten also had an outstanding warrant from Alabama for a similar identity theft crime involving opening a bank account using someone else's identity.
During a search of his belongings, police say they found a Visa debit card with someone else's name. Hatten claimed he found the card, according to investigators.
Fox 4's Bella Line asked Simonds if they knew how Hatten obtained the victim's information and Simonds said, “Not specifically with this case. A lot of times they'll find it on the internet. There's, you know, there's the dark web, and there's a lot of different things that they can use to get this information.”
Simonds says there are ways that you can protect yourself.
“There's a lot of phone calls with scams, make sure that you don't give your personal identifying information over the phone, and if you think something might not be right, but you're not sure, you can feel free to call your police department to see if, if it's a scam or not," said Simonds.
She also said to lock your credit if you are not actively purchasing something that requires that information.
The Federal Trade Commission found that in 2024 alone they had 1.1 million reports of identity theft. It also says that consumers reported losing more than $12.5 billion to fraud in 2024.
“If you think something's wrong, something probably is wrong," said Simonds.
Hatten was arrested and charged with two counts of criminal use of personal identification information. The Cape Coral Police Department's Economic Crimes Unit continues to investigate.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
