ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — A Florida man is facing multiple felony charges after a months-long investigation into an alleged fraud ring that authorities say used stolen personal and financial information to book hotel rooms in Asheville.
Detectives with the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office arrested 49-year-old Willie Harold Johnson, of Monticello, Florida, on May 20 following an investigation that began in January.
According to the sheriff’s office, detectives launched the investigation Jan. 20 after receiving a series of complaints from management at the Extended Stay America hotel on Rocky Ridge Road. Hotel staff reported that a group of individuals had been reserving rooms through a third-party booking application under suspicious circumstances.
Investigators said they traced the reservations to multiple victims across the United States whose personal information had been compromised and used without their knowledge to secure hotel accommodations.
Johnson was subsequently identified as a suspect and taken into custody.
He faces six counts each of felony financial card theft, felony financial card fraud, obtaining property by false pretenses and identity theft. He is also charged with one count of trafficking in stolen identities, according to the sheriff’s office.
Johnson is being held at the Buncombe County Detention Facility under a $700,000 secured bond.
Sheriff’s Office District 1 Capt. Dustan Auldredge said investigations involving identity theft and financial fraud often require extensive investigative work to identify suspects and connect crimes that may span multiple jurisdictions.
“These types of crimes demand an extensive effort from our Criminal Investigations Division to track down and solve,” Auldredge said in a statement. “We are grateful for the months of work our detectives put in on this case that led us to this outcome.”
Auldredge also encouraged residents to regularly monitor their financial accounts and report any suspicious activity.
“This is a good reminder for all of us to check our financial statements frequently and report anything out of the ordinary,” he said.