Deputy tied to man who pleaded guilty to $283K ID theft scam

A man who pleaded guilty this year gave material to authorities.

The Palm Beach County sheriff ’s deputy arrested Thursday on federal identity-theft charges is tied to a longtime scammer who pleaded guilty this year to a $283,00 identity theft, as well as being part of a $387,000 fraud to rent dozens of houses that weren’t his.

A Homeland Security agent’s affidavit against deputy Frantz Felisma, 42, says another criminal identified as K.J. would ask Felisma to use his law-enforcement computer access to get details of people driving expensive cars, then use that information to get credit cards with their information and steal money he used, in part, to get his own expensive cars.

Details of K. J. outlined in the affidavit — including the initials of two other people charged in the real estate scam, their arrest date and the date of K.J.’s guilty plea — match those of Kesner Joaseus.

Joaseus also admitted the identity theft scheme took place from early 2013 to mid-2014, which also matches the affidavit against Felisma. Nine sets of vic tims’ initials appear in both Joaseus’ plea agreement and the affidavit against Felisma.

According to his guilty plea, Joaseus said he was using stolen information, including the dates of birth and Social Security numbers, to get more than 25 fraudulent credit cards.

“He then used the unauthorized cards to purchase merchandise and withdraw cash at various locations in Palm Beach County and elsewhere,” according to his signed plea. “The purchases include two Mercedes automobiles, an Infiniti, tuition at two private schools for his children, and telephone, television and internet service at his home.”

Jo a s e u s made s o me o f h i s deposits while driving a Mercedes. Money from the sc am went toward credit reports on people he’d then victimize. His home office had copies of credit reports — and handwritten notes of the victims’ names, dates of birth, driver’s license numbers and other details, according to his plea agreement.

The Homeland Security agent’s affidavit against Feli sma said the deputy got that information through his law-enforcement database and gave it to K.J. on pieces of paper that had been given to him. The agent “collected approximately 50 pieces of paper from K.J.’s residence (evidence from the search warrant) that matched this description,” the agent wrote. “K.J. stated that those were the blank papers he (K.J.) would provide Frantz so that Frantz could notate the (information) of the car owner.”

K.J. said he paid Frantz $10,000 a month for the information.

In all, 16 identity-theft victims in K.J.’s federal cases owned vehicles whose license plates were run by someone logged into the system as Felisma, the agent said. Those