An Orem convenience store employee has been accused of selling customers' personal information, and police are asking potential victims to come forward.
Justin Ryan Howard is in federal custody for allegedly copying financial information off customers' checks and selling it on at least two occasions. Howard, 23, is charged with one count of unlawful transfer of a means of identification, a charge that carries a maximum of 15 years in prison.
According to court documents, Howard, a clerk at the Maverik Country Store on 800 North in Orem, sold 11 sets of names, addresses, bank names and checking account numbers to undercover agents. The first set of five names, contained on two handwritten pages, cost the officer $40, documents state. Howard allegedly charged $30 for the second set, which contained information on six individuals.
Officials at Wells Fargo Bank and Zions Bank verified the routing and checking account numbers as correct in two of the cases, according to charging documents.
One of the alleged victims, a Talmage, Duchesne County, woman on the second list, told investigators that her husband wrote a check for gas on Nov. 20, which was taken into the store by their daughter, documents state.
Howard made an initial appearance on the charge Monday morning in U.S. District Court. He is scheduled to return Wednesday for a detention hearing.
Aside from the 11 alleged victims discovered during the two undercover purchases, it is unknown how many others may have been victims.
Members of the newly formed Identity Theft Task Force, which is investigating the case, are asking anyone who has written a check at the Orem Maverik in the past six months and who have noticed suspicious activity on their checking accounts to contact them at 801-579-1400.
E-mail: awelling@desnews.com