14 May
A lust for hair extensions is what finally brought Jocelyn Kirsch and her 25-year-old lover, Edward Anderton, to justice thus ending the couple's identity-theft scam, federal authorities said recently.
Her hair extensions, valued at $2,274 at Philadelphia hair salon Giovanni and Pileggi, were attached to Kirsch, 22, a former Drexel University senior, over 7 1/2 hours in late November. The duo also gave the hair stylist a $250 tip - and a bad check.
"Captured by the hair, that's the joke. But it was the greed of the hair extensions," U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan said recently.
Most of the couple's fraud occurred over the Internet, where they purchased items by opening up credit cards, using personal information from friends, co-workers and neighbors in a condo development, the Belgravia, in Center City. But their in-person appearance at Giovanni and Pileggi showed they had become careless, federal authorities said.
"Once that check bounced, then there was an ability to go back, actually identify the victim and tie to that a name."
From there, Philadelphia police were able to get descriptions of the suspects and stake out the UPS store in West Philadelphia where one of the victims told cops the couple had opened a mailbox - in her name. One day later, on Nov. 30, the two were nabbed by University of Pennsylvania cops.
