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63 Fake Debit Cards, Gift Cards Found in Woman's Glove Box, Prosecutors Say

By Erica Demarest | February 27, 2015 5:52am
 Aurora resident Lashay Drane, 22, was charged with aggravated identity theft.
Aurora resident Lashay Drane, 22, was charged with aggravated identity theft.
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Shutterstock; Chicago Police Department

COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — When a suburban woman was pulled over in Chicago Lawn this week, she told police they could find her insurance card in the glove compartment, prosecutors said.

Instead, they found more than 60 counterfeit gift and debit cards, Assistant State's Attorney Lorraine Scaduto said in court Thursday.

Officers had stopped Lashay Drane, 22, about 11 p.m. Monday when she changed lanes without signaling near the 6200 block of South Western Avenue, according to an arrest report.

The Aurora resident didn't have a valid driver's license — and she told police she thought her insurance card was in the glove box, Scaduto said.

Officers instead found 59 fake gift cards and four counterfeit debit cards, some of which were in Drane's name, police and prosecutors said.

Drane told police "none of those cards are mine," the arrest report said, but later admitted they were.

Drane, of west suburban Aurora, was charged with identity theft and aggravated identity theft. She was also ticketed for changing lanes without a turn signal and failing to produce a valid driver's license.

Cook County Judge Laura Sullivan on Thursday ordered Drane released on her own recognizance.

Earlier this month, 27-year-old Racquel Ellis was caught with 75 fake credit cards when police pulled her over in Humboldt Park. The Oakland woman threw trash out her window as police wrote up tickets for a broken light and driving without insurance, prosecutors said.

When the officers tacked on an additional ticket for littering, Ellis refused to sign the paperwork, leading police to search her car, authorities said.

According to an arrest report, Ellis told the officers: "There's this boy I know who makes them."

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