SAN FERNANDO VALLEY : Names of Deceased Used in Credit Card Fraud

It doesn’t exactly rank with the plot of “Night of the Living Dead,” but police said Wednesday that dozens of the deceased may have been on illegal shopping and check-cashing sprees in the San Fernando Valley.

At least their names were being used on the sprees--until two bounty hunters inadvertently shut down a credit fraud ring.

Three men were arrested this week in Reseda after the bounty hunters stumbled onto an “identification mill” while tracking one of the men. Los Angeles police officers who were called to the scene found nearly 100 credit cards, checkbooks and driver’s licenses along with equipment used in making phony identification. Also found in the house was a list of names along with birth and death dates, an indication that the names of dead people were used on identification cards and to apply for credit cards or cash checks.

“They apparently went to a cemetery to get names and dates to use,” Detective Robert Graybill said of the suspects. Richard Sanders, 37, was arrested on suspicion of forgery, while Leo Anderson, 35, and Amal Parker, 23, were arrested on suspicion of auto theft.