Salt Lake police are pursuing new leads in their search for a woman dubbed the "Hipster Grifter" who has become a sort-of Internet celebrity over a long trail of broken hearts and empty wallets.
Kari Ferrell, 22, is wanted on $60,000 worth of arrest warrants here in Utah for fraud and forgery. A profile of the woman appeared in the New York Observer newspaper this week, detailing the tattooed pixie's alleged cons among Brooklyn's hipster scene. She's accused of faking pregnancies, cancer and music promoter jobs while allegedly scamming people out of money, igniting a wave of Internet blogs and postings about her.
People who have known Ferrell have taken to the Internet to talk about their encounters with the "Hipster Grifter." She even has a fan site on Facebook.
Salt Lake police want to find the woman who, with her phoenix tattoo spread prominently across her chest, has been on the department's Most Wanted list since last year.
"There's been reports of her in New York as recent as Monday," said Salt Lake Police Sgt. Fred Ross. "But you know, Brooklyn's 13 million people. A warrant for fraud and forgery is probably not the top of the NYPD's list."
Ross said some people from New York have contacted detectives with information on Ferrell's whereabouts. "Most of them are posting online," Ross said. "People are embarrassed to report it or they don't think $500 or a thousand bucks is a big deal."
Police say she has passed numerous forged checks and bad checks. She is sought on warrants from Taylorsville, Salt Lake City and Layton.
The Observer's story has become the talk of Salt Lake City, with many who knew her stunned at her sudden Internet "Bonnie and Clyde"-type fame. The Internet has also helped the Salt Lake Police Department, which has seen a spike in hits to its Web site and YouTube video about Ferrell.
Since its story went viral, the Observer said on its Web site that the "Hipster Grifter" has become aware of her notoriety. She even e-mailed a well-wisher, the newspaper claimed.
"Yes, I made mistakes and yes, I hurt people who cared for me (and vice versa). However, I have made amends with most of those individuals, and have attempted to rectify my poor decisions by paying them back. I know that it is neither here nor there, but what the article didn't mention is that I haven't done anything of that nature for years," Observer.com quoted Ferrell's alleged e-mail as saying.
"I understand that that, in no way, justifies what I did … but I definitely recognize that what I did was really REALLY (expletive), and like to think that I have learned from my mistakes."
E-MAIL: bwinslow@desnews.com