Alaska oil money thief may reside in Florida

Altered direct deposits from fund traced to apartment in Sunrise

An identity theft investigation that led to an apartment in Sunrise began nearly 5,000 miles away when a resident of Juneau, Alaska, complained that someone changed his direct deposit information without his permission.

It wasn’t an uncommon complaint, said Nathan Imes, a criminal investigator for Alaska’s Department of Revenue. He put it on a list of things “to investigate as time allowed.”

But over the next few weeks, 17 similar complaints came in. Imes’ list was growing, and he realized there was a pattern: Someone was stealing from recipients of Alaska’s Permanent Dividend Fund, which pays an annual subsidy to each of the state’s permanent residents based on oil profits.

The thief was redirecting the money to prepaid bank cards from American Express Centurion and Metabank. Those cards were traced to Larry Scroggins, 36, of Sunrise, according to a search warrant filed in Broward in December and made public this week.

Scroggins, who has not been charged with any crime, could not be reached for comment despite efforts to reach him by telephone and at the address listed on the warrant.

Using the web to steal: Alaska’s fund provides a tempting target for identity thieves, said Imes, because residents apply for it online, make changes online and only notice banking activity from it once a year. In 2019, the dividend paid $1,606 to each resident.

Last year, one thief who stole from the fund was traced to

Alabama.

The culprit was extradited to Alaska and convicted of organized scheme to defraud, Imes said.

Imes confirmed that Scroggins is the target of the ongoing investigation into the South Florida identity theft operation, but he declined to say whether anyone else is a suspect.

If Scroggins or anyone else is charged, it’s not clear whether it would be in Alaska, South Florida or federal court.

According to the warrant, Imes said he found evidence that Scroggins also was receiving money from “fraudulent State of Illinois Unemployment Benefits claims.”

The warrant Imes filed listed the Sunrise Police Department, the Broward Sheriff ’s Office, the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Labor as agencies involved in the investigation.

Tracking the operation to South Florida was laborious but not complicated, according to the warrant. Each change appeared to be made from the same computer, sending the funds to the same few prepaid American Express and Metabank accounts.

“An examination of all of the available data … tended to suggest to me that this had all been conducted by one individual,” he wrote.

Withdrawing money:

The cards were assigned to at least five different names, but in late August, two withdrawals were made from different cards within one minute of each other at a Wells Fargo bank in the 7000 block of North University Drive in Sunrise. The security camera on the ATM showed both withdrawals were made by Scroggins, Imes wrote in his search warrant application.

Investigators searching Scroggins’ apartment found two laptops, two iPhones, credit cards, checks and bank statements.

Imes said the investigation is continuing.