A son who caught a fraudulent iPhone and iWatch order made in the name of his dad, who was hospitalized with brain cancer at the time, helped sheriff’s deputies track down the suspect, who was arrested Tuesday in Lancaster, according to L.A. County Sheriff’s Department records.
The Vista Hills Drive resident told detectives he knew his father hadn’t ordered the Apple gear to the house because he was not currently there due to his medical condition.
When the son saw the alert from T-Mobile, he decided to wait for the UPS driver to make the delivery so he could refuse the package.
As the son watched the delivery man pull up with the package, he saw a man next to a gray Toyota near the driver, whom he believed was trying to intercept the Apple order.
When the suspect, Christopher James Williamson, 37, saw the resident outside his home, he took off, according to the detective’s report.
The UPS driver then told the fraud victim’s son that the man who had just left in the Toyota had flagged down the truck about four blocks earlier, trying to intercept the package with what looked like a fake California driver’s license pasted over a real one, according to the detective’s request to search Williamson’s home.
“The fraudulent purchase used the victim’s personal identifying information, including name, address and bank card,” according to the report from Detective Kelley Barnes, who ultimately found the UPS driver, whose story corroborated the account from the victim’s son.
“The suspect asked (the driver) if he had a package for ‘David,’ he asked if he could give him the address,” according to Barnes’ report. “The suspect provided him with the address of (the victim). (The driver) told the suspect he was unable to give him the package and he would have to be at the address on the package.”
About 10 minutes later, the driver made several more deliveries and then reported seeing Williamson again with the fake ID and again refused to give him the package, according to the report from station officials.
The victim’s son also refused the package, due to the alleged fraud, and it was ultimately returned to the sender, T-Mobile, according to Barnes’ report.
The victim’s son then contacted the SCV Sheriff’s Station and reported the incident.
Deputies later tracked Williamson down to his residence based on evidence from a previous investigation, she wrote in the search-warrant request.
Williamson was in court earlier this week for an unrelated matter, a previous domestic violence case dating from a February domestic violence incident at his Lancaster home.
Court records available online Thursday indicate the matter, which was being heard in San Fernando Superior Court, had not been resolved as of this story’s publication.
Neither the SCV Sheriff’s Station nor the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office responded to a request for comment on the status of the investigation.
