Edmonton man charged with multiple counts of identity theft, fraud, forgery in Bonnyville

An Edmonton man is facing a series of fraud and identity theft charges after trying to open fraudulent bank accounts in Bonnyville and Cold Lake.

Police responded to a report at the Bonnyville Lakeland Credit Union on Wednesday, Feb. 26 that a man was trying to open a bank account under a different name than the one he was in opening an account days before in Cold Lake.

He provided police with an ID from a man in Ontario, had a driver’s license, birth certificate, a Service Canada document with SIN and other personal information, and a cheque from the Government of Alberta.

The documents appeared to be genuine, Bonnyville RCMP said.

“If I didn’t get this call from getting the official documents, I would have never guessed they were fake, which they turned out to be because it was so professionally done and well-made,” said Constable Mackenzie Harris.

The man confessed that he was not the man in the ID.

He was arrested and charged with three counts of identity theft, identity fraud, forgery, two counts of using forged documents.

Those charges face maximum penalties as indictable offences of 10 years, while summary convictions are around six months.

Police believe the IDs could be part of a bigger operation that could be going on in Edmonton.

The suspect had multiple IDs of another victim when he opened the account in Cold Lake.

Police believe there could be more IDs.

Damon Ollenberger has a history of these types of offences and is being held in prison until his trial, police said.