By Valerie Bauerlein
JOURNAL REPORTER
The men identified themselves as military intelligence.
They also said they were private investigators.
What they really were was scam artists, Winston-Salem police said.
Fraud detectives arrested Eric James Johnson and Robert Wilhelm Russell of Tennessee late Wednesday on charges of obtaining property under false pretenses.
Or at least they think they arrested Johnson and Russell.
The men had identification cards from four different states, with different names and addresses, police said. They also had passports and military identification cards.
Officers began investigating the case late Tuesday after a local private investigator called them.
Jason Fogelman reported that someone was using his name and investigator's license number to get information from Fast-Track, a California company that does background checks. The person had requested -- by way of e-mail -- birth dates, driver's license and Social Security numbers for eight cardiologists in Alabama, Robert Clark of Fast-Track said. That kind of information can be used to get credit cards.
The request set off alarms with Fast-Track. Clark called Fogelman, who said he had not authorized that kind of request. Fogelman called police.
The men had told Fast-Track they were staying at the Hawthorne Inn on High Street doing surveillance.
So on Wednesday, fraud detectives went to room 210 of the hotel.
When questioned, the men said they were criminal investigators with the military, police said. They were driving a Crown Victoria, a car that is often used by law-enforcement agencies.
The men agreed to let the officers search their room, police said.
The officers found about $100,000 in goods and equipment, including a diamond ring valued at $4,000 to $5,000, computers, printers, checks, and the kind of plastic sheets used to make credit cards, police said.
''You could tell that they were printing false checks and credit cards,'' Sgt. Bobby Brown said. ''You could tell that they were into some pretty big stuff.''
Investigators say they do not yet know the scope of the scam. One of the men said they had been operating in four states, according to arrest warrants.
So far, the men are charged with using a computer to draw up a fake check on a business' corporate account. They used the check to buy a $17,000 diamond ring from a jewelry store, and pawned the ring for cash, according to arrest warrants.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has taken over the case, Brown said.
More charges are expected this week, federal agents said.
Police arrested the men first as John Does but eventually as Eric James Johnson, 29, of Chattanooga, Tenn., and Robert Wilhelm Russell, 38, of Signal Mountain, Tenn. They were in the Forsyth County Jail last night with bond set at $1 million each.
Fogelman, the private investigator, said he initially thought that someone had assumed his identity. He was worried about the reasons and what havoc might have already been done.
''Once I got over the initial fear of my life being ruined by these guys, I started realizing it was big, bigger than me,'' he said.
The Hawthorne Inn's front-office manager said that his staff picked up no warning signs when the men registered or during their stay. They paid cash, he said.
''There was nothing to indicate that there was any suspicious activity going on,'' Barry Swedeen said. ''It was really a shock.''
• JOURNAL reporter Wes Young contributed to this report.
Published: July 9, 1999
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