North Fulton County

Apartment placement company worker accused of stealing customer's identity

NORTH FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Alpharetta police say a onetime employee of an apartment placement company stole a customer’s identity and tried to open up lines of credit in her name.

Police told Channel 2's Mike Petchenik the victim used the company ProMove in 2015 to find an apartment in Alpharetta.

“While she was applying for an apartment here in Alpharetta, she received an email from Credit Karma that hinted at some hard inquiries on her credit report,” department spokesman Jason Muenzer said.

Muenzer said the victim learned someone used her Social Security number in an attempt to obtain a student loan and to get a credit card.

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“Our investigators followed this case through and that led them to an individual who she had partnered with through ProMove,” Muenzer said.

Last week, detectives arrested Rashad Page on charges of identity theft.

“Right at this moment, we don’t know how many other victims are out there,” Muezner said.

The CEO of ProMove, Lee Pritchard, told Petchenik the allegations are puzzling to him.

“We don’t gather any personal, sensitive personal information,” he told Petchenik. “You try and do everything to prevent things like this. If the investigation turns something up, we’re gonna clamp down.”

Pritchard said his company continues to be “trusted advisers” for people looking to rent apartments. He also said the company performs strict background checks on all prospective employees.

The victim’s neighbor, Azariah Nowlin, told Petchenik he’s used apartment-finding services in the past and has never given out personal information to them.

“Normally they just ask you where you want to move, how many rooms, how many bathrooms you want,” he said.

Nowlin said he’s surprised that Page would be so brazen.

“Glad they caught him,” he said. “Can’t be out here stealing people’s stuff, man.”