The News Room [News Release]

Sheriff Contact: John Roach: 313-224-0615
Release Date: Thursday, December 23, 2004

County officials donate stolen toys to needy children for Christmas --- A year ago, they were police evidence - items illegally obtained using other people’s credit cards. Today, they are Christmas toys in the hands of needy children in the city of Detroit, thanks to Wayne County Sheriff Warren Evans and Commissioner Alisha Bell, who chairs the county’s pubic safety committee.

Evans and Bell today delivered nearly $1,500 in toys to a Detroit community outreach ministry and a local family shelter. In addition to the estimated $1,000 in recovered stolen items, Evans pitched in another $500 worth of toys purchased from the Sheriff’s Goodfellows Fund, which is supported by the sheriff’s Local 502 and Local 3317 unions, as well as the sheriff’s executive staff.

The donation was made possible, in large part, to a bust sheriff’s deputies made one year ago of a woman they refer to as “Mrs. Grinch.” That’s when they arrested Timika Edgerson, 33, for obtaining and using other peoples’ credit card information to purchase approximately $30,000 in merchandise, including jewelry and expensive clothing, for she and her family. While many of the items were not recovered, a number of toys and articles of clothing she had fraudulently purchased for her children were found at here home when deputies arrived. Records also showed that the Christmas tree she had in her home was stolen.

Today, Evans and Bell delivered boxes of toys to Bethany Baptist Church, which is in Bell’s district and provides an array of support services to low-income families in the area. On hand were nearly two dozen children who otherwise might not have received any Christmas toys.

Bell made sure that some of the toys and all of the recovered clothing were donated to a family shelter in her district that chose to remain anonymous, since it services people who are victims of domestic violence.

“It is very gratifying to us that some good was able to come out of this criminal case,” Evans and Bell said in a joint statement. “Knowing that the person who committed the crime was convicted and sent to jail and that a lot of children will have a happier Christmas are two reasons for the community to be glad.”

Background on fraud case
According to investigators, Edgerson’s purchases were made between September and December 2003 and included expensive jewelry and designer label clothing such as Hugo Boss, Dana Buchman and Polo. Investigators also found a number of cell phones at the woman’s home that they believe were activated under other people’s names.

Although Marshall Fields successfully blocked many of the attempted purchases and much of the other merchandise was never recovered, more than $3,000 in fraudulently obtained clothing was seized from the suspect’s home and returned to retailers.

Evans said that in telephone conversations, Edgerson posed as an employee of Sears while calling the arm of the company that issues MasterCard credit cards under the Sears logo. Sears, like many companies, issues brand name credit cards, applies its logo to the card and offers incentives to customers for each purchase.

Edgerson, who had two prior fraud convictions, was convicted of credit card fraud and spent 90 days in the Wayne County Jail. She was released in late September.

Evans said the case highlights the need for people to be extremely careful when handing out their credit card information to someone over the phone.

“Consumers need to remember to never give out their personal information over the phone unless they trust the person asking for it and they know the information is really needed in the first place,” Evans said. “If you have any doubts, get the person’s name, call the company they say their work for and ask for their supervisor.”

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