‘Tis the Season to be Wary

Dec. 7, 2008

James Parrent went on a rampage of identify theft

This week, the Express begins its Ripped-Off series that will alert consumers to pocketbook predators. We’ll draw on true stories from people around the region. Of course, the more stories the better, so call Anne Stanton toll-free at 1-877-244-8787 if you’d like to share your own.

By Anne Stanton

Gary Houda doesn’t mince words when describing James Parrent, the rip-off artist who used to work for him: “He’s garbage.”
Houda owns the Used Car Factory on U.S. 31 North. In 2004, he hired James Parrent and trusted him to sell and detail cars for him. But Parrent was a three-time felon, and used the Car Factory as his personal headquarters to steal the identities and bank account numbers of customers.
Over a period of months, he used that information to set up charge accounts with the stolen identities and drain checking accounts of other unwitting victims for gasoline, thousands in cash, a new sprinkler system and high-tech gadgets. He also used the money to bankroll his side interests of gambling and pornography.
“When he was in court, he talked like he didn’t have any conscience whatsoever. One thing I learned. I don’t trust anybody anymore. You could hand me a $20 bill, and I’m going to check to make sure it’s not counterfeit,” said his embittered boss.
“You want to know how bad it is? I have a debit card with Fifth Third. They just called my house two hours ago, and someone is using my debit card to buy two tickets for the subway train in Davos, Switzerland. Can you believe that?”
Houda said Parrent also cost him a lot of money—he had to make good on a fraud perpetrated by Parrent for $27,000.

The story of identity theft and Internet scams is an old one, but it’s taking new twists all the time. Scams peak at the holidays when consumers are harried and readily open their mouths and pocketbooks. But as the story of Parrent proves, a scammer can be as nearby as your local used car lot.

BYE-BYE MONEY
Julie Stathakis, a Traverse City hairdresser, bought a Jeep from Parrent in June of 2006 and later bought a Jaguar in March of 2007. She found it curious that Parrent never gave her the title for the Jaguar, but it didn’t raise her suspicions. When Parrent invited her to go to the casino with her, she agreed. In their later trips to the casino, he’d have wads of cash and often gave her $100 to gamble with, she told the Grand Traverse County sheriff’s detective, adding their relationship wasn’t romantic.
Stathakis cut hair for the Goodell family, and one day in the spring of 2007, she placed a check that Terry Goodell had written to her, along with her own W-2 tax form, in her glove box. She dropped off the car with Parrent for a detailing job at the Used Car Factory. Later, she realized the W-2 and check were missing. When she asked Parrent if he’d seen them, he said he couldn’t recall coming across them.
As it turns out, Parrent took Goodell’s check and made up a fake driver’s license using Goodell’s name, address, and license number and his own photo. He then began writing and cashing checks made payable to Terry Goodell (he used check-writing software and blank business checks that you can buy at most office supply stores).
Fortunately, Goodell has a stellar reputation in Traverse City. He’s a father, a passionate football coach, the owner of an oil and gas company, and had always paid his bills on time. So his wife, Carmen, said they were shocked when they started receiving phone calls that Terry was writing bogus checks and opening up credit accounts.

POSED AS HER HUSBAND
Carmen Goodell (Terry was unavailable for an interview) said Parrent went on a several month spending spree, posing as her husband.
“He used all this information to open up all these accounts using Terry’s name. He had no problem because Terry’s credit was outstanding. He’d walk into Meijer and hand the clerk a $2,000 check. When they’d couldn’t collect on the check, they’d call us, and we’d say, ‘What! We don’t know what you’re talking about.’
“We received bills from Menard’s and Home Depot. He was putting in a sprinkling system, new doors. We were getting bills and phone calls from all over the country. This was really, really big. Terry felt absolutely and utterly violated. The detective joked that they’d better find this guy before Terry does.”
Terry Goodell wasn’t the only victim. Parrent was also writing checks on a Merrill Lynch account owned by an elderly Leelanau County man. The victim, John Hollinger, had earlier written a check for a detailing job by Parrent, and later discovered $4,000 missing from his checking account (which Merrill Lynch reimbursed), according to police reports.
The names of people—either identities he forged or bank accounts he drained—were numerous. Even Parrent’s own mother told police that her son had bought a 2000 BMW in her name and financed it through Fifth Third Bank. She knew nothing about it until she received a letter from an insurance company asking for payment. She told police she would sell the car back to the Used Car Factory.
When Parrent was finally busted, detectives found he had copied dozens of driver’s licenses. He also had boxes of their personal financial information, according to court reports.
Police said the victims were reimbursed by their banks. In other cases, the stores, such as Meijer, absorbed the loss. Yet the stores and banks pass on their costs to the customers in the form of higher prices.

THE ELUSIVE JAMES PARRENT
Captain Meachum said it took awhile—several law officers watching a lot of video from Meijer, Target and area gas stations—but Parrent was finally identified and caught.
Meachum said it’s not unusual for an officer to recognize a thief’s face or his particular rip-off scheme. “It’s the same people doing the same thing over and over again,” he said.
As it turns out, Parrent had been convicted of three felonies since 1999, using a good share of the money to call a 900 sex line. He also had a fetish for women’s underwear, according to court records.
“It was all like something out of a bad movie,” said Carmen Goodell. “I couldn’t go to the trial because it was too creepy, but Terry told me that his (Parrent’s) mother was there, screaming and wailing that her son was innocent.”
Carmen doubts whether Parrent would have been apprehended so quickly if they lived in a big city. “If they had not caught him, it would have been scary, really scary.”
As it was, the Leelanau County Sheriff’s Detective Klint Kerr, who did the initial investigation, gave the Goodells a phone number for the creditors to call seeking payment. The Goodells ended up losing nothing—not even their good credit standing.
Parrent had to get an out-of-town defense attorney (at taxpayer’s expense) and originally pled not guilty. He ultimately admitted guilt in a plea bargain. He was ordered to pay restitution and was sentenced from three years to a maximum of seven years and six months, according to state Department of Corrections records.
After the experience, Carmen Goodell said that she and Terry were far more wary about giving out their personal information. When they decided to do a major project on their home, Terry was asked for his Social Security number in a credit application with Home Depot. He refused to share it, but the clerk said, “That’s okay. I actually have it already from our database. I’m just required to ask you for it.”
Carmen said she was surprised their information is so accessible to so many people.
“People think we’re so removed from identity fraud, and yet people do it right here in Traverse City. No one is immune from the crime and you have to be really cautious,” Carmen said.



Cyber Scams & eBay

Identity theft is fairly rare in Northern Michigan. Much more common are people getting ripped off on the Internet either by email scams or people purchasing items on eBay or Craigs list, said Grand Traverse Sheriff’s Captain David Meachum.
If you’ve been a victim of a cyber scam, the FBI wants you to register a complaint on its Internet Complaint Center website (ic3.gov). The FBI compiles the data and alerts the appropriate authorities. But if you were ripped off by a foreigner, you may have to kiss your money good-bye. There’s little likelihood that the FBI will pursue the case unless the amount is very large or part of a systematic rip-off across the country, said Sandra Berchtold, FBI special agent and media coordinator.
Even rip-offs across state lines are sometimes difficult or impossible to resolve. Berchtold encourages people to file complaints, but resolution is far more probable if the victims have done their research and can provide a lead to the thief’s identity.
Like almost all law enforcement officials interviewed for this article, she gave this advice: “If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.”
The most common rip-offs come from selling an item on eBay. Tip number one, if your buyer comes from Nigeria, do not even answer the email. An Express employee had a Nigerian buyer for a watch she was selling on eBay. The buyer went so far as to create a fake Pay Pal page from which he hoped to obtain her password to her account. Fortunately, she immediately alerted E-bay security and nothing happened.

‘OVERPAYING’ PLOY
A common ploy is for a customer to “accidentally” overpay the seller with a cashier’s check, and then request a refund of the difference with Western Union, said Leelanau County Sheriff Michael Oltersdorf.
“A couple of years ago, I had a motorcyle listed on eBay, and someone wrote to me, ‘Don’t sell it. I’ll send you a cashier’s check.’ It was $2,000 more than what I was asking.
“He asked me to send him the $2,000 via Western Union and he’d arrange to have the bike shipped.”
Oltersdorf called the bank and confirmed the check was fraudulent.
There are two cautionary notes to this tale. First, even if there is money in the account, the balance could change within seconds. Secondly, if you try to cash or deposit a fraudulent check — even if you don’t know it’s fraudulent— you are actually committing a crime. True story. It happened to Michael Shinnick of San Francisco who was “overpaid” with a $2,000 check for two mountain bikes he sold on eBay for $1,200.
Shinnick signed the check at a San Francisco Bank of America branch after confirming with the teller that the account was legitimate. But minutes later, bank officials discovered — while Shinnick was at the counter — that the check was fraudulent and called police. Long story short, Shinnick was handcuffed, photographed, fingerprinted, and strip-searched. He sued the bank for the $14,000 it cost to clear his name, but lost because of a previous Supreme Court decision that protects people from reporting a criminal activity.
“It’s infuriating,” said Shinnick in an August 2006 San Francisco Chronicle article. “And if this could happen to me, it could happen to anyone. That’s what’s so scary about this.”