An incident involving an accused impaired driver who provided officers with a false name led investigators to connect the individual as a suspect to an ongoing fraud case.
This connection allowed fraud investigators to lay new charges against the accused.
The original incident took place before 9 a.m. on Tuesday, May 5 after a TBPS Traffic Unit officer pulled over a speeding motorist on Lanark Crescent. The officer stopped the motorist, who was driving a vehicle with licence plates that expired in 2004.
The Thunder Bay woman provided the officer with a name, but an investigation quickly determined it was a false identity. The woman was then positively identified.
The driver failed a Standardized Field Sobriety Test, and was arrested and transported to the Thunder Bay Police Service headquarters. Further evaluation by a Drug Recognition Expert concluded the driver was impaired by drug.
Members of the TBPS Fraud Unit became involved with the investigation.
Further investigation by members of the fraud unit found the name and identification used by the accused impaired driver belonged to a Thunder Bay resident who had previously called TBPS about being the victim of fraud.
This victim reported someone had attempted to open multiple telephone accounts under their name.
The victim also reported someone had fraudulently attempted to open a bank account and credit card account using her identity. The investigation revealed the alleged impaired driver, who had used the name of the defrauded victim during the May 5 traffic stop, was a suspect in these incidents of fraud.
Betsy Ann HENEY, 42, of Thunder Bay, is charged with Identity Fraud x 3 and Obstruct a Peace Officer. These are in addition to charges laid as a result of the driving incident.