TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A Tallahassee woman has been arrested after she admitted to investigators that she fraudulently used her child's identity to buy her family things "for Christmas."
Rose Burch, 43, was arrested on Wednesday for several charges related to theft and fraud.
According to a probable cause document, the victim went to the Leon County Sheriff's Office in May to report fraudulent use of her personal information.
The victim said that she was looking at her credit report when she noticed two accounts that were not hers. When she reached out the companies involved, the victim learned that her mother, Burch, had opened an account at Fingerhut using her social security number.
The victim told deputies she also learned that Burch tried to open several other accounts but was declined. According to the victim, the two accounts that were open were both in collections.
Documents say that as investigators looked through subpoenaed documents from Fingerhut, they noticed that Burch had fraudulently purchased nearly $600 worth of items from the website.
Using the victim's identity, Burch also unsuccessfully attempted to buy nearly $500 worth of items from Fingerhut five years ago and again tried to by more than $1,200 worth of items in 2017. Fingerhut ended up shipping items valued at $583.66 to Burch in 2017.
When investigators spoke to Burch in October 2018 and questioned her about fraudulently opening the account with her child's identity, she told officers "I did, I did."
Burch admitted that she bought the items using a fraudulently obtained credit card, stating that she did this "for Christmas" for her and her children. She further explained that she was battling health issues and admitted that she ha been arrested for fraud related charges in the past.
Based on the evidence, Burch was charged with grand theft, organized scheme to defraud, and fraudulent use of a credit card.
According to court records, Burch has been convicted of numerous crimes related to theft, fraud, forgery, and violation of probation, dating back to 1998.
