Ex-city workers went on expensive shopping spree using stolen IDs

By Guillermo Contreras
gcontreras@express-news.net
Updated 05:44 p.m., Tuesday, July 12, 2011

A San Antonio couple who worked for the city pleaded guilty Tuesday to a charge that they used stolen Social Security information to buy a boat, jewelry and several vehicles, including two motorcycles, two Cadillacs and a $43,000 Corvette.

Mary Mercy Lopez, 49, and David Edward Reyes, 48, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit identity theft. Each faces up to five years in prison when U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia sentences them in October.

The pair admitted that Lopez stole some of the Social Security numbers from patients at a Metropolitan Health District clinic on McCullough Avenue, where Lopez worked through a temp agency as an administrative assistant for a tuberculosis program, according to plea paperwork.

Reyes worked for the city's Public Works Department, the documents state.

During a December raid of the couple's home, San Antonio police and Secret Service agents found multiple Social Security cards in Lopez's name but with different numbers, records show. Investigators initially targeted Lopez after linking her to the purchase of a 2006 Corvette worth nearly $43,000, and to the wrongful purchase in 2001 of a boat, two outboard motors and a boat trailer worth nearly $20,000, according to court records.

Court records said Reyes used stolen information to buy a 2004 Harley-Davidson motorcycle in 2004.

In 2009 and 2010, the pair also committed identity theft when they bought a 2003 Chevrolet Silverado, the Corvette, a 2009 Harley Davidson, a 2005 Cadillac CTS, a 2006 Chevrolet Avalanche, jewelry, a 2007 Cadillac Escalade and a 2009 Dodge Caliber.

The plea paperwork said Reyes was present with Lopez for the purchase of all of the vehicles and jewelry.

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