Crime & Safety
Police: Mercedes-Buying Woman Used Fake Social
Tinley Park police arrested a woman who reportedly used a fake Social Security number in March to buy a car at the local CarMax. They caught her when she returned to the scene of the crime to do it again, they said.
Police arrested a woman last week who they said was trying for the second time to buy a vehicle using fake identification papers.
Lorene Smith, 34, of the 14900 block of South Kedvale in Midlothian, was taken into custody around 1 p.m. at CarMax, 18800 S. Oak Park Ave., . A manager at the business said Smith took interest in a 2009 Mercedes C300 that had a sticker price of $25,998.
She presented bank statements, a driver's license, Social Security number and employment information to a sale's manager, the police report said. But another employee at the business recognized Smith as being associated with an illegal vehicle purchase on March 28 of this year, the report said. That employee called while Smith was test driving the Mercedes, according to the report.
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"Lorene produced a fictitious Social Security number … a piece of paper from the Social Security Administration indicating that the (number) was assigned to (her)," the report said. "… The document is identical to a document Lorene presented to CarMax on March 28, 2012 … and was found to be fictitious."
Smith's employment information at a day care center in Blue Island was also inaccurate, police said. Her place of employment is listed in police reports as being a hair salon in Chicago. There are no previous convictions on her rap sheet, police said.
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She was charged with two felony counts of forgery.
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