The past couple of months have been busy for 2005 College alumnus Edward Anderton and his girlfriend Jocelyn Kirsch.
To support their lavish lifestyle, the two committed fraud on a massive scale, taking in thousands of dollars in forged credit- card transactions, according to Philadelphia Police.
The pair was arrested Friday at the UPS Store near 37th and Spruce streets Friday afternoon, while attempting to retrieve a package from a post office box there. Police say the P.O. box contained merchandise bought using other people's personal information.
Police were first tipped off about the two when a neighbor in the pair's Center City apartment building reported "suspicious" purchases on her credit-card accounts on Nov. 19, Lt. George Ondrejka of Central Detectives said.
The woman also said that a credit card that she had never applied for had been opened in her name.
Police later found that another person on the same floor also had suspicious purchases on a credit card.
Police traced the purchases to a P.O. box at the UPS Store on campus and enlisted the help of Penn Police officers to make the arrest.
Philadelphia Police approached employees of the store earlier that day, telling them to call police in the event that Anderton and Kirsch showed up, according to Marcus Dillard, a store employee.
Dillard said store employees delayed retrieving the couple's packages in order to keep them in the store while waiting for police to arrive.
Kirsch tried to escape in the couple's car, which was parked outside, but Anderton, "knew he got caught," Dillard said.
When police searched the couple's apartment, they found it littered with expensive clothing and fake driver's licenses.
There were "hundreds of cards [with] different names," Ondrejka said. "It was amazing."
Police also found a credit-card making machine, scanners and several computers, which police are now inspecting.
Police believe the couple broke into neighbors' apartments and installed software on their neighbors' computers to steal person information. They also allegedly stole checks from one person.
"They were calculating," Ondrejka said, adding that since the story was first publicized in the news media, many people have come forward alleging they were also victimized by the two.
"It's going to get real big," he said. Police expect to be able to locate more victims by using information obtained from the confiscated computers.
Though the two have been released on bail, police expect to rearrest them and charge them with burglary, in addition to the fraud charges they now face.
In total, each is expected to face 16 charges from the District Attorney's Office, Ondrejka said, adding that postal inspectors are also investigating and that the pair may be charged with at least five counts of postal fraud.
The Postal Inspection Service did not return a call for comment.
The FBI is also in talks with Philadelphia Police about the incident, said FBI spokeswoman Jerri Williams. However, a formal investigation has yet to be launched.
Ondrejka said that if federal charges are brought against the couple, the DA will probably drop all of its charges and consolidate the case at the federal level.
Anderton graduated from the College of Arts and Sciences in 2005 with a bachelor's degree in economics, according to University spokeswoman Phyllis Holtzman.
Kirsch is currently a senior at Drexel University.
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