Press release
A two-month long investigation into an identity theft and forgery ring resulted in the arrest of three people last Thursday in eastern Henderson County.
On February 10, 2015, an Athens resident reported to the Athens Police Department that their checking account had been compromised and someone had made several transactions without their consent. One of the transactions had taken place in Terrell, Texas. The initial report was soon followed by two other residents who were victims of similar crimes.
Athens Police Detective Corporal James Bonnette began investigating, trying to identify the suspect.
Soon thereafter, similar crimes were reported in surrounding jurisdictions including Tyler, Canton, Chandler, and the DFW area. During the commission of the original Terrell offense, video surveillance captured images of the suspect. Those images were distributed to area news outlets in hopes of identifying the suspect.
As the investigation continued, Bonnette, with the assistance of the Arlington Police Department, was able to identify the suspect in the video surveillance as Brandon Holloway, 27, of Arlington. Based on that information, an arrest warrant was obtained for Holloway for the offense of Fraudulent Use/Possession of Identifying information.
On Thursday, March 26, Bonnette received information that Holloway was at a residence on County Road 3618. The Athens Police Department requested assistance from the Henderson County Sheriff’s Department in locating and arresting Holloway.
At approximately 11 a.m., several officers from the police and the Sheriff’s Office traveled to the location where they found Holloway at a residence on the property. Holloway was taken into custody based on the warrant, as well as a parole warrant for a previous ID theft conviction.
The property resident, Brandon L. Lee, 27, of Brownsboro, was also located at the residence and arrested for a weapons-related warrant from Ohio. Brandon Holloway’s wife, Steffanie L. Holloway, 37, of Arlington, was located in an outbuilding and was arrested for a parole warrant stemming from a previous arson conviction.
While at the scene of the arrests officers observed several items that appeared to be evidence of the identity theft ring that was being operated by Brandon Holloway. As officers secured the location, Bonnette prepared and presented an affidavit for a search warrant to Henderson County Court at Law Judge Scott Williams. Upon executing the warrant, officers located numerous items of evidence and contraband including blank check stock, credit cards in victim’s names, records of personal identifying information of victims and four computers. Additionally, officers also recovered two stolen vehicles, both of which were rental cars that had been rented in the names of ID theft victims in the DFW area, a 4-wheeler ATV that had been stolen from Henderson County, and two firearms.
All three subjects were booked into the Henderson County Detention Center. During the booking process, a quantity of methamphetamine, between 1 gram and 4 grams, was found in Brandon Holloway’s possession. Additional charges are also expected to be filed against Brandon Holloway in relation to the stolen vehicles, weapons, additional identity theft evidence discovered, as well as the separate cases from several law enforcement agencies across east Texas and the DFW metroplex.
Athens Police Chief Buddy Hill praised the work of Bonnette and the other officers that assisted with the investigation and arrest of these three subjects.
“James has spent a lot of time and hard work on this case,” said Hill. “When it was first reported, we had next to nothing to go on. It was a collaborative effort that identified Holloway and it was a collaborative effort that ended in his arrest.”
Bonnette was assisted in the arrests and search of the property by Athens Police Department Assistant Chief Rodney Williams and Detectives Chris Saylors and Marshall Passons, as well as Sheriff Ray Nutt, Chief Deputy Botie Hillhouse, Captain Bryan Tower, Investigators Kay Langford, Wick Gabbard, Brad Gray, Robert Powers, Michael Shelley and Cayce Hampton, along with Deputies Jim Langford, Ray Yockey and Josh Rickman from the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office.