D.C. Woman Accused of Stealing Advertiser Identities

Shante Buchanan may have scoured the Washington Post classifieds like a bargain hunter looking to save a little money. But what she was after, authorities say, was other people's money, and when it came to spending it, she was anything but cheap.

After tricking advertisers out of their credit card numbers by posing as a Post employee, Buchanan rang up thousands of dollars in charges at Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and elsewhere, law enforcement officials said.

In a 34-count indictment handed up in D.C. Superior Court late Tuesday, Buchanan, 20, is accused of stealing the identities of several people who placed ads in the newspaper and then using their credit lines for her spending sprees between December 2004 and January of this year.

Neiman, a luxury retailer, was a favorite of the unemployed Southwest Washington woman, according to charging documents filed last year when she was first implicated in the scam.

In one spending spree, she charged more than $26,000 in clothing, jewelry and other Neiman items to the credit cards of three of the people.

Picking phone numbers out of ads, Buchanan allegedly would call advertisers and pretend to be a Post representative.

She would claim that the customer's credit card payment had not gone through and that she needed the card number again along with billing information.

At least 50 people fell for the ruse, according to authorities.

In some instances, Buchanan used the credit card number she had just stolen to make purchases. In others, she used a person's personal information to set up a credit card account.

But the scheme might go back to 2002, when The Post first received regular complaints about apparent fraud.

In a statement this week, the newspaper said it had contacted D.C. police and put in place safeguards to make it harder to perpetrate such scams.

However, it was after the Postal Inspection Service was contacted by Neiman Marcus that the investigation moved forward early last year.

After a sting operation, Buchanan was charged in February 2005 with identity theft.

As postal inspectors and prosecutors began reviewing the evidence, they realized the case was too complicated to proceed promptly.

So the charges were dropped and a broader inquiry was launched, culminating in the grand jury indictment.

Buchanan was not in custody yesterday.

Her attorney in the original case, Chantaye Redmon-Reid, could not be reached for comment yesterday.

But the charges this week are not the end of the probe.

The Postal Inspection Service is urging anyone who might have been a victim in this case to call the agency at 202-636-1512.