Elk Grove women charged with identity theft

Two Elk Grove Village women were charged in Mount Prospect with felony identity theft after police used surveillance video, electronic payment records and telephone records to investigate.

Candice M. Whitt, 32, and her mother, Nancy M. Dement, 54, both of the 2400 block of Landmeier Road, Elk Grove Village, were arrested around 12:20 p.m. May 20, police said.

Police reports gave this account:

Whitt was seen on a security video taking a wallet around 12:15 p.m. May 8 when the owner left it on a checkout counter at Walmart in Mount Prospect Plaza, Rand and Central roads. Whitt used a Link card to pay for her purchases, enabling police to learn her identity. During the transaction, she covered the victim's wallet with her own and picked up both wallets. She took credit cards and a driver's license out of the wallet and dropped the wallet in a washroom at the store.

Dement and Whitt used a credit card in the wallet to purchase a wedding ring set for $1,090 at Arlington Jewelry & Pawn. Officers were able to identify Dement after an employee at the pawnshop found her name and phone number on the store's phone. Dement had called the pawnshop on May 7 to ask about the ring set.