Prosecutors say photo proves theft

The photograph of Aretha Antoine using an automatic teller machine last year in Fayetteville, N.C., looks like any other record of the thousands of such transactions made every day.

What Lake County prosecutors claim makes it unique is it documents Antoine drawing from a bank account set up with stolen money.

Antoine, 33, is on trial for aggravated identity theft. Authorities allege she stole more than $100,000 from a pair of Lincolnshire women she tricked into revealing their financial information.

Police say she called the women as many as 20 times a day last October and November, posing as a representative of various government agencies to obtain birth dates, Social Security numbers and other data.

Officials say Antoine used the information to steal $71,000 from Charlotte Weidman and $45,000 from Janet Stein by transferring money from their bank accounts via the Internet.

Melody Lewis, a security officer for the State Employees Credit Union in Fayetteville, testified Thursday the photo was taken from a videotape of all the transactions at the ATM her institution operates.

On Nov. 26, Antoine withdrew $500 from an account she had at Fidelity Bank, and was caught on tape doing so. Earlier Thursday, prosecutors introduced records showing the trail of money from the accounts of the Lincolnshire women into Antoine's bank account.

Assistant Public Defender John Bailey objected to the photograph, saying there was insufficient evidence proving it actually came from the ATM camera, but Circuit Judge Victoria Rossetti overruled him.

Antoine faces a mandatory prison sentence of six to 30 years if the jury of six men and six women convict her.

Testimony is expected to continue today.