Anderson woman sentenced to prison for identity theft

Christina Lee Cameron

Christina Lee Cameron of Anderson was sentenced to thirteen years in prison May 27 following her conviction for multiple counts of Identity Theft and Burglary. Retired Judge Richard McEachen sentenced Cameron, 36, after her pleas to several felonies and her admissions to having served prior terms in state prison.

The convictions stemmed from Cameron’s scheme to counterfeit and pass personal checks at numerous Shasta County businesses, using the names and account numbers of many local residents, as well as people from other states. She obtained the information from stolen driver’s licenses and checks. For months, Cameron impersonated others in order to obtain money and goods from grocery and other retail stores. It was an elaborate and complicated scheme which took many weeks and a tremendous amount of manpower to investigate. Due to sophisticated surveillance equipment at the various businesses, Cameron was identified as the perpetrator. A search of her home yielded numerous pieces of stolen person identification, and a computer and printer used to manufacture counterfeit checks.

During early 2008, Cameron was dubbed the “Catch Me If You Can” thief when she began calling investigators and taunting them about her crimes while eluding capture. She often bragged about how good she was at what she was doing. She fled to Nevada for a brief period of time, where she also counterfeited and passed many checks. She was captured when she returned to Shasta County to visit her then-boyfriend, Harry Madson. When Madson’s home was searched, officers found over an ounce of methamphetamine and evidence of sales. Madson pled guilty to Aiding and Abetting Cameron in her flight from Shasta County, as well as to charges of Possession of Methamphetamine for Sale in late 2008.

The aggregate total loss to the businesses was $11,609.15 for the 46 checks Cameron was known to have counterfeited. Cameron has prior convictions for Grand Theft and Possession of Methamphetamine. Cameron will eventually be sent to Nevada to face similar charges there.

The case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Erin M. Dervin, and investigated by the Redding Police Department Investigator Eric Little, Rob Wilson and Matt Zalesny.