Blunt Rolling Machine Among Fraudulent Charges Two Men Made, Police Say

Two Milwaukee brothers are accused of stealing personal information from a Menomonee Falls woman and West Bend man so they could buy items Online with fraudulent credit cards.

Andre Smith, 20, and Edward Smith, 26, were charged in Waukesha County Circuit Court Wednesday with six combined counts of identity theft for financial gain. If convicted, Andre faces up to 12 years in prison and $40,000 in fines, while Edward faces up to three years in prison and $10,000 in fines.

According to the criminal complaint:

On Feb. 7, a Menomonee Falls woman contacted the Menomonee Falls Police Department after she discovered her credit card was used to buy $100 worth of goods at Fandango.com. She closed the account, but shortly afterwards got letters for credit card applications in the mail, which she never applied for.

She then discovered an Amazon card had been opened in her name and used to purchase an iPad 2, Bob Marley rolling papers, a ZigZag rolling machine, Premire Filter Tips and a Juicy Jay's Jumbo Blunt Rolling Machine. The total cost of the items was $1,000 and were shipped to an address on North 93rd Street in Milwaukee.

On one of the credit card applications sent in by the Smith brothers in the victim's name, they claimed her as an employee at Marquette University and gave a work phone number for the campus. The number was for the Smith brother's mother who works at the campus and when contacted by police, she told investigators her sons had just gotten a computer and to contact her husband for more information.

Officers executed a search warrant on the Smith brother's home in the 9300 block of West Darnel Avenue, where they found the filter tips ordered with the Amazon card and a summary statement for the account of a West Bend man who also reported having his identity stolen.

On July 23, Edward Smith talked with West Bend police officers, where he said he got both victim's information while working at Heiser Toyota. He said he had been a lot attendant and service driver at the dealership and would go through customer's glove boxes looking for items to take.He said he found a piece of paper with the Falls woman's name, address and Social Security number on it, so he contacted his brother asking what they could do with it.

He said his brother later called him at work and said he needed documents with more information and was later able to get such documents from the West Bend man's car. Edward Smith said his brother then bought $1,500 in iPads with a fraudulent card set up in the man's name, then sold them on Craigslist.

Both men will make their initial apperance in court Nov. 5.