San Joaquin County Man Pleads Guilty to Identity Theft, Being Felon in Possession of Firearm
Above: Gun confiscated during search of Mathews’ residence | San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office
A man was arrested and charged with a number of offenses after a traffic stop in Stockton on January 11, 2023, according to a press release by the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office.
Patrol Deputies pulled over a vehicle displaying a stolen license plate and reportedly found that the driver, 37-year-old Maurice Mathews of Stockton, had multiple warrants and was on felony probation.
Following the traffic stop, a probation compliance check was carried out at Mathews’ residence, where officers discovered a loaded .9mm handgun, methamphetamine, and dozens of pieces of stolen mail, credit cards, IDs, and passports.
Possession of firearms or ammunition is prohibited as a condition of Mathews’ probation, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Patrol Deputies booked Mathews into the San Joaquin County jail on his outstanding warrants and probation violation, as well as gun and drug charges.
The ID theft investigation was then taken over by Community Car Deputies, who worked to uncover the extent of Mathews’ illegal activities. The case was ultimately passed on to the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office for review.
In late January, Mathews entered guilty pleas to being a felon in possession of a firearm and three counts of identity theft with a prior. The court sentenced him to 3 years and 4 months in state prison.
Identity theft is an ongoing problem, especially in the digital age. For example, there were 151,642 reports of identity theft in the state of California in the year 2020, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
It involves the fraudulent use of another person’s personal information — name, social security number, credit card information physical address, e-mail address, and so on — to commit illegal activity. It is crucial for people to keep an eye on their financial accounts, and most banks offer robust identity theft protections as a standard service for their customers.
Additionally, tax filing services, such as TurboTax, may offer add-on identity theft monitoring services.
