Johnston Police Arrest 2 In Multi-State T-Mobile Scam

detectives arrested two Rhode Island women earlier this week in connection with a T-Mobile scam that apparently spans five states. One of the women reportedly admitted that the two worked the scam — which included using customers' identities to illegally purchase expensive cell phones — in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey.

In an e-mail message received late Friday, April 15, Police Deputy Chief David DeCesare explained that "the investigation is still ongoing, and more arrests are anticipated."

DeCesare confirmed that Johnston officers "are working with other local departments" to identify potential links to other such incidents, and termed the continuing police work "a far-reaching, complicated investigation."

The local investigation began with a report of identity fraud and concluded with the arrests of the two Providence women, who allegedly tried to purchase a BlackBerry smartphone illegally at the Johnston T-Mobile store.

On March 7, a T-Mobile customer went to the Johnston Police Department and reported that her identity had been used without her knowledge to make purchases at a T-Mobile store in Providence. The woman received two text messages from T-Mobile, one which thanked her for making a purchase and the other stating that “Tiffany” was added to her account as an authorized user.

The customer contacted T-Mobile and learned that two BlackBerry Bold 9780 cell phones were purchased and added to her account. One of the cell phones was purchased in Providence and the other was purchased in Worcester, Mass.  The T-Mobile representative told the victim that a female called the T-Mobile store and used the victim’s cell phone number and social security number to make the purchases, according to the police report.

Johnston Police submitted a subpoena to T-Mobile Law Enforcement Relations on March 9 requesting information about the identification used to purchase the phones, as well as the incoming and outgoing phone records on the illegally purchased phones.

On April 5, associates at the T-Mobile store located at 1410 Atwood Ave. called the Johnston Police to report that Tiffany E. Matthews was inside the store and attempting to purchase a BlackBerry cell phone. The T-Mobile employees said the phone was valued at $500, and that Matthews was trying to add it to an account for a man that lived in Mattapoisett, Mass.

“T-Mobile personnel were familiar with Matthews and the transaction was denied,” Det. Lt. Frank J. Levesque reported.

The T-Mobile employee told Levesque that Matthews had been added as an authorized user on the account on April 5. He said he recognized Matthews’ name because of past “fraudulent activities involving T-Mobile accounts,” according to Levesque’s report.  The employee told Levesque that Matthews allegedly wanted to put $30 as a down payment for the phone and have the remaining $470 added to the man’s account.

On April 8, Johnston Det. Robert J. Lemieux received “an email from T-Mobile loss prevention personnel, which briefly described how this scam is occurring within T-Mobile,” according to Lemieux’ report. T-Mobile named Tiffany Matthews and Jessenia Quiles as suspects in the scam.  

T-Mobile Regional Loss Prevention Manager Gabriel Levit told Levesque that he “does not know how the suspect(s) are fraudulently obtaining the personal information of T-Mobile customers. He stated that once the suspect(s) add Matthews as an 'authorized user' onto the accounts, they either purchase an expensive cellular telephone or they hijack the account holder’s telephone line by transferring the telephone number to a new SIM card,” according to Levesque’s report.

Tiffany E. Matthews, 23, of 1 Bodell Ave., Providence, turned herself in at Johnston Police headquarters on April 11 in response to the active arrest warrant issued for attempted larceny and conspiracy. Matthews said Quiles had the paperwork on the T-Mobile account holder’s information. She told detectives that Quiles set the scam in motion and would send Matthews into the store to complete the transaction, according to Det. James H. Brady’s report.

On April 12, Detectives Loffredi, Sasso, and Lemieux located Jessenia L. Quiles, 21, at 878 Chalkstone Ave., Providence. She was taken into custody on a warrant for identity fraud and conspiracy.

The detectives took Quiles to Johnston Police headquarters and read her Miranda rights to her in the detective interview room. She admitted to “being involved with identity fraud along with obtaining property, being cell phones, from many different T-Mobile stores in the New England area,” according to Lemieux’s report.

Quiles also admitted to running the scam in Rhode Island and the four other states, Lemieux stated.

Matthews was arraigned and released on $5,000 personal recognizance, and a no-trespass order was issued for T-Mobile. Quiles was held in police custody pending arraignment.

Update: This article was updated with Deputy Chief DeCesare's e-mail communication after it was first published. Photos of the suspects were added on April 18, after they were received from the Johnston Police Department.