Seattle Man Built Mobile Identity Theft Lab

BOISE, Idaho (KLIX)-A Seattle man who built a mobile identify theft lab in a trailer could spend more than 20 years behind bars for stealing people's identities and making fraudulent purchases across the Northwest, including in Idaho. According to U.S. Attorney Rafael Gonzalez Jr., Ryan M. Tichy, 42, recently pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, he is set to be sentenced in June this year. He could get up to 20 years for the wire fraud charge and will have to serve a minimum of two years on the aggravated identity theft charge. From 2018 to 2020, Tichy was able to steal multiple people's identities by obtaining social security numbers, birth dates, account numbers and other information and use them to make fraudulent purchases or borrow money. He traveled to Idaho, Oregon, Nevada and other states doing this. In December of 2020 authorities executed a search warrant and found Tichy had bought a trailer using someone else's name and turned it into a mobile identity theft lab. "The trailer contained materials, machines, computers, and printers for use in producing counterfeit identity cards and debit/credit cards. The trailer also contained foils, blank stock for driver’s licenses, an embosser, a card punch, printers, counterfeit driver’s licenses in various stages of completion, and counterfeit credit cards," wrote the U.S. Attorney's Office in a statement.

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