A customer at a used car dealership in Middle Village was arrested last week for allegedly stealing another man’s identity in an attempt to obtain a large car loan.
Steven Picard, 37, was placed under arrest on April 12 after attempting to finance a car using another man’s identification card and is now facing grand larceny and identity theft charges.
With up to five counts against him, prosecutors said, Picard is said to have set off a fraud alert with Wells Fargo after filling out paperwork at Roadmasters 2, located at 61-02 Fresh Pond Rd. on April 4, according to the criminal complaint that the Queens District Attorney’s office provided.
Prosecutors said he allegedly handed over an ID with a Long Island man’s name, but after the fraud alert when off Picard made a phone call which would lift the alert to the name on his ID within 24 hours.
Picard allegedly returned the next day to complete additional paperwork for the $38,000 car loan, which the bank allowed, the criminal complaint indicated.
But Picard allegedly hit real trouble on April 10 at the Department of Motor Vehicles, when he attempted to register the 2012 BMW 6-Series and was told the identification used to purchase the car was invalid.
The criminal complaint noted while the information in the ID all pertained to the victim, the photo on the car had Picard’s name on it. But the Long Island man himself, when contacted by authorities, indicated that while all this information was his, he had not financed a car recently.
Picard returned to the dealership on April 12, at which time the owner of Roadmasters 2 told the Detective Filip Glowa that the defendant was present with the BMW financed just days before.
Police determined the ID used on the application was a forgery and allegedly found a Colorado driver’s license in Picard’s pocket with another man’s name.
Picard went before a judge in Queens Criminal Court on April 14 and is being held on $25,000 bond.
