Man Accused Of Suspected Identity Theft Scheme Indicted On Racketeering Charge

COBB COUNTY, GA — A Cobb County man is accused of stealing both alive and deceased people's identities, and now faces racketeering and other charges in connection with the suspected identity theft scheme, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr announced last week.

A Cobb County grand jury indicted Jermaine Winston Knowles Oct. 28 on one count of racketeering and one county of giving a false name and date of birth to a law enforcement officer, according to a news release.

“This defendant is alleged to have been involved in an elaborate scheme to victimize both living and deceased persons by stealing their identities for his own personal gain,” Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Vic Reynolds said in the release. “These types of crimes make day to day living difficult for living victims and also affect the survivors of the deceased."

Court documents accuse Knowles of crafting a scheme using the identities of others "to conduct and transact personal business such as rent residences, buy cars, establish and maintain automobile insurance, establish and maintain phone service, make purchases and conduct banking transactions" habitually between Nov. 12, 2014 and April 27, 2021.

In one example, Knowles is accused of withdrawing $3,900 from one deceased person's bank account, using their account to pay $160 for dental services and spending more than $10,000 at several metro Atlanta Home Depots using the same deceased person's Home Depot credit card.

Knowles allegedly used another victim's identity, who has been incarcerated in an Ohio correctional facility since 1997, to get a new driver's license under the victim's name, take out a loan and buy a car in Georgia.

“Georgia Department of Driver Services takes the safety and security of our customers’ personal information seriously,” DDS Commissioner Spencer R. Moore said in the news release. “The DDS Office of Investigative Services actively investigates fraud and misuse of DDS-issued credentials. We work in partnership with federal, state and local law enforcement to ensure perpetrators are brought to justice and victims are assisted with restoring any compromised information."

If convicted, Knowles faces the following penalties:

• Racketeering: five to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to three times the amount of pecuniary value gained.
• Giving a false name and date of birth to a law enforcement officer: up to 12 months in custody and a fine of up to $1,000.

No further information about the investigation or the crimes Knowles is accused of, other than those already included in the indictment, are being released at this time. Victims' names were redacted from the indictment to protect their identities.

"Members of the public should keep in mind that indictments contain only allegations against the individual against whom the indictment is sought," the news release said. "A defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty, and it will be the government’s burden at trial to prove the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the allegations contained in the indictment."

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