Woman's identity stolen, cops say
Suspect is accused of stealing her checks
Thursday, October 18, 2007
By Molly Reid

A Slidell woman has been booked with stealing the identity of a Delgado Community College student who befriended her.

Elissa B. Smith, 24, of 61294 Dixie Road was apprehended by Slidell police after a month-long investigation into the theft of nearly $2,000 in forged checks from a Delgado student. She was booked Monday on felony charges of identity theft, bank fraud, possession of stolen property, forgery and theft over $300 by fraud.

Smith was transferred to the parish jail Tuesday and was released the same day on $35,000 bond.

In late August, Smith was given a ride home from Delgado by the victim, who saw her on campus. The two women had attended high school together. According to the victim, Smith said she had visited the campus to inquire about enrolling. Smith told her she was unemployed and living with her boyfriend and their two children.

On the way home, Smith was left alone in the car while the victim went into a grocery store. While alone, she found a check for $1,100 made out to the victim from her mother to pay for school fees, said Capt. Kevin Foltz, Slidell Police Department spokesman. Smith took the check along with a book of 50 blank ones.

Smith was able to cash the $1,100 check by adding her name to the recipient line, Foltz said. She was able to forge only $89 worth of blank checks before the victim, who had reported the stolen checks to police, identified Smith on Hancock Bank's surveillance footage, thus prompting the arrest. Hancock reimbursed the victim's mother the $1,189 and filed a separate police report pressing charges against Smith.

Monday's arrest marked Smith's seventh run-in with St. Tammany law enforcement. From November 2002 to February 2003, she was booked on charges of attempted carjacking, attempted bank fraud, possession of stolen property, bank fraud and attempted simple robbery. Those charges were judged together, resulting in a 1 1/2-year jail sentence. Smith was released early on good behavior in January 2005.

She is expected to go to trial in mid-November for a September domestic abuse battery charge involving her boyfriend, Marcel Dwayne Thompson, 32, who has a decade-long criminal history with charges ranging from possession of undersized trout to drug racketeering and aggravated rape.

A court date has not been set for Smith's most recent identity theft charges.

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Molly Reid can be reached at [email protected] or (985) 645-2852.