By Khalida Sarwari
Francis Humes is an example of why technology might not always be such a good thing.
Known as a “sophisticated” identity thief, Humes didn’t stop at just opening fraudulent credit card accounts; he created fake driver’s licenses, passed fraudulent checks and illegally accessed people’s credit card accounts. Two years ago, using the identity of a Campbell resident, he charged hundreds of dollars to a credit card account at Home Depot and Safeway.
Jennifer Deng, a Santa Clara County deputy district attorney who prosecuted Humes last year, called him a “step up from the typical thief.”
“At one point he had treasury checks from the post office,” she said. “He’s got his fingers in everything.”
The 28-year-old Humes pleaded guilty in March to 15 counts of unlawful use of personal identifying information, grand theft, vehicle theft with a prior conviction, second-degree burglary, possession of methamphetamine and forgery. He also admitted to the aggravated white collar crime enhancement and an enhancement for committing crimes while out on bail.
Deng said Humes, who resided in Monterey at the time, obtained information from a co-defendant who was then serving a five-year, four-month sentence at Solano State Prison for second-degree burglary, forgery and identity theft. That man, Juan Zazueta, 39, would pass along information to Humes via text message from prison and in return Humes would funnel money to Zazueta’s prison account.
“We don’t know how he got his information,” Deng said of Zazueta, who received an additional four-year sentence for his involvement.
Humes’ crime spree ran from July to November 2010 while he was out on bail and awaiting sentencing on another identity theft case, Deng said. In that case, he was arrested in 2008 after passing a fraudulent check for $1,364 at a Check 2 Cash on San Tomas Aquino Road in Campbell. He pleaded guilty to the crime and was scheduled for sentencing on July 20, 2010, but never showed up, Deng said.
Eight days later, using an assumed identity, Humes purchased about $700 worth of items from the Macy’s at Westfield Valley Fair Mall and then used the same credit card to lease a $60,000 Mercedes-Benz in Palo Alto.
Palo Alto police began investigating Humes in August and tracked down the identities he’d used throughout the county, Deng said. They worked closely with police agencies in San Francisco, Fremont, Santa Clara, Cupertino and Campbell that were also suspicious of similar cases in their cities, she said.
In Campbell, Humes used a resident’s Home Depot card to buy $532 worth of merchandise. A week later, on Aug. 7, he used the same person’s card to charge $65 at a Safeway in Campbell.
The police agencies worked together to identify Humes by examining various surveillance footage and distributing fliers with his photo, Deng said.
“They were able to determine through his cell phone, addresses and his own DMV photo to find out what his real name was,” she said.
Humes was arrested on Nov. 12, 2012, and has been in custody since. He is scheduled to be sentenced to 10 years in prison on May 8.
