Polce say the man masqueraded as Keith Tkachuk, Brian Leetch and Jeremy Roenick.
ST. LOUIS – When police finally caught the man they suspect of masquerading as Blues winger Keith Tkachuk, he was carrying a Louisiana drivers license that said he was Brian Leetch, a defenseman for the New York Rangers last season. He also was the passenger in a car driven by a girlfriend who didn’t know his full name.
Elander Mark Lachney, of Denham Springs, La., was arrested Tuesday in Pineville, La., on three counts of identity theft and one count of bank fraud, all felonies. All three counts of identity theft involved establishing credit card accounts in Tkachuk’s name. Lachney is being held in Rapides Parish, La., without bail because of a violation of probation related to a previous felony conviction. Maryland, Texas, Arkansas and other areas in Louisiana also have interest in questioning Lachney, and extradition is being considered by two states, police said.
Lachney’s arrest is the culmination of a far-reaching investigation into the theft of three hockey players’ identities that involved the combined efforts of the National Hockey League, the FBI, the Secret Service, the Blues’ director of security and law enforcement in four states.
Police said Lachney had Louisiana drivers licenses made out with his picture and the names of three pro hockey players – Tkachuk, Leetch and Jeremy Roenick, a center with the Philadelphia Flyers. He also had applied for three credit cards in Tkachuk’s name, receiving and using one, police said.The most recent arrest echoes a 1995 incident also involving Lachney and Tkachuk.
Then, operating out of Louisiana, Lachney began impersonating Tkachuk and another player while Tkachuk was with the Winnipeg Jets (now the Phoenix Coyotes.) Those actions led to Lachney’s 1996 conviction in Louisiana on two counts of filing false public records. He was sentenced to four years.
Beginning in February this year, Lachney attempted another wave of fraud, investigators believe.
That fraud included a purchase in East Baton Rouge Parish, La., and, police said, a phone call to Tkachuk’s wife in which Lachney allegedly identified himself as the FBI seeking information. Investigators believe that it was Lachney who called the Blues’ offices many times impersonating family members or banks and trying to get messages to Tkachuk to, among other things, remember to activate credit cards.
Investigators also believe that in May and last month, Lachney applied for separate loans in the names of Roenick and Leetch at two Louisiana banks.
Having gone through this in 1995, the most recent incidents were unnerving to the Tkachuks.
“I did talk with Keith and (his wife) Chantal, and I think the appropriate word is relief,” said Bob Murray, Tkachuk’s agent. “This has been an ongoing situation for them, and both were relieved with what has happened.”
While police had been able to intercept two of the credit cards they said Lachney recently had applied for in Tkachuk’s name, two attempts to apprehend Lachney, 35, failed. And he let police know it.
“He would call here and taunt us,” said Sgt. Darrell Basco, the public information officer for the Pineville Police Department. “Saying, “You can’t get me. I’m better than you.’ He was good and he was cocky about it.”
In 1998, Congress enacted the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act that made it a federal crime to assume another person’s identity and break federal law.
Three years ago, a man was convicted locally of impersonating former Rams linebacker London Fletcher and charging a total of $30,000 in medical bills. Therefore, when identity theft again affected Tkachuk this spring, it led to security directors from the Blues, Rams and Cardinals to meet and reinforce with their teams the importance of fraud protection.
The increasing threat also prompted the NHL to deal specifically with the issue as a “priority piece” of a preseason security meeting with each team this past season, a league official said. The NHL passed out a 12-page primer on identity theft to all players this season.
The handout gives point-by-point suggestions to avoid identity theft. Measures like not letting mail pile up during road trips, not giving personal information over the phone and not carrying a Social Security card.
Tkachuk had had his identity purloined long before the pamphlet.
To appropriate a person’s identity, thieves need that person’s Social Security number, their birth date and, in some cases, their mother’s maiden name. The birth date of a pro hockey player is readily available on trading cards, online or in media guides. How Lachney got Tkachuk’s information is “up for speculation right now,” police said.
Tkachuk, who declined to comment for this article, first became concerned about another possible identity theft when a bank or credit card company contacted him about an application. Because of their earlier brush with identity theft, Tkachuk and his wife quickly recognized something wasn’t right.
Tkachuk contacted his agent and Blues’ security director Jim Maier about his concerns. Maier contacted the league and with the help of numerous law enforcement agencies, they narrowed in on a suspect.
The mailing address for several of the credit cards was in Pineville, bringing in the local police and lead investigator Lt. Joe Salmon.
Lachney allegedly used one of the credit cards in Tkachuk’s name to purchase $9,000 worth of merchandise in the Baton Rouge, La., area. The largest purchase on the spree was about $6,000, police said.
Police in Pineville tried two stakeouts to arrest Lachney. Having intercepted two of the credit cards in Tkachuk’s name before they got to Lachney, the police tried a “controlled delivery” of one of the cards four or five months ago. They believe Lachney got wind of the sting and avoided the police. In May, police got a tip and spent a day observing Lachney’s believed location without seeing him. Police now believe that was a bad tip.
Lachney was brazen, calling the department after the failed attempts to apprehend him, police said.
“He was pretty elusive,” Salmon said. “In something like this it really is only a matter of time before you get caught, especially with him calling all the investigative agencies and the team up there and, in a way, taunting. He would really flaunt it and throw it in your face. This is a guy we really needed to get off the streets.”
On Tuesday, undercover narcotics agents for the Louisiana state police were on surveillance in Tioga, La., when they spotted Lachney. They recognized him because of his violation of probation. Lachney had a previous conviction for using fraudulent documents, police said.
Lachney and the woman who told investigators she was his girlfriend, Amber McBride of Pineville, led police on a 5- to 10-minute chase. After stopping the car, police asked the passenger if he was Elander.
“Who’s that?” McBride asked, according to police.
She later told investigators she knew him only as Mark.
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Brian Leetch
AP-NY-07-11-03 2020EDT
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