April 11, 2008
Media Contact: Sandi Copes
Phone: (850) 245-0150
Orange County Man Gets 4 Years For Series Of Identity Thefts
Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced that an Orange County man was sentenced to four years in prison for his role in a series of brazen identity thefts. Gary Freeman was charged with multiple counts of identity theft after he was videotaped entering Orlando businesses and stealing employees’ credit cards. Following his prison term, he must serve five years of probation and pay restitution to his victims. Freeman was prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution.
Freeman, 49, was first identified as the suspect when he was captured on videotape entering the studios of an Orlando television station, where he stole the credit cards of four victims. After the station broadcast the surveillance tape, a viewer recognized Freeman and provided additional information to law enforcement with the Altamonte Springs Police Department and Orlando Police Department who conducted an investigation and discovered other similar incidents. Freeman was arrested in May 2007.
Law enforcement officials determined Freeman would enter local businesses by displaying phony credentials. He would then roam through hallways and offices in search of unattended purses or pocketbooks, from which he would remove one or more credit cards. After leaving the premises, he would join co-defendants Julia Farias and Christine Auner and travel to various retail stores, where the women would pose as the credit card owner to purchase goods as directed by Freeman, of Orlando. The value of the merchandise obtained totaled nearly $20,000.
Freeman pleaded guilty to burglary of an occupied structure, a second-degree felony, as well as organized fraud, conspiracy to commit organized fraud, and six counts of identity theft, all third-degree felonies. The Office of Statewide Prosecution will contact affected victims and determine their financial losses, for which Freeman will be responsible in terms of restitution.
Both co-defendants have previously entered pleas and Auner received a five-year probationary sentence. Farias will be sentenced next month. Today’s sentence was handed down by Orange County Circuit Court Judge Alicia Latimore.