Wednesday, February 03, 1999
Opening account lands suspect in jail
Smudged thumbprint leads to two charges
BY TANYA BRICKING and DAN HORN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
When Martin Odigie walked into a downtown bank last month to open an account and write a check for $1,250, Cincinnati police say it set off an investigation that connected him to a million-dollar fraud ring.
Authorities say it began Jan. 8 when Mr. Odigie, a 34-year-old Nigerian man, smudged his thumbprint twice when his print was required to cash the check at Huntington Bank at Fourth and Race streets.
The clerk notified police, and Mr. Odigie was charged with forgery and felony possession of criminal tools. Police found him with other identification and forged checks, said Lt. Jerry Kyles, Cincinnati's fraud squad commander.
The identification cards each carried his picture but a different name and Social Security number, investigators said.
At the time of his arrest, Mr. Odigie was out on bond on other charges.
He told police he was from Nashville, Tenn., Lt. Kyles said.
Prosecutors were able to raise his bond Tuesday to $300,000 cash.
Assistant prosecutor Brad Greenberg asked Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge John O'Connor to increase the bond because police fear Mr. Odigie would flee the area as soon as he got out of jail.
“The concern by the state is that if he does post bond, we'll never see him again,” Mr. Greenberg said.
He said authorities suspect Mr. Odigie, who also has been linked to bank fraud in Florida, is part of a “larger group” involved in fraud in Cincinnati and beyond.
Police in Columbus have arrested two others suspected to be involved.
Lt. Kyles said “The ring defrauded banks there out of almost a million dollars.”
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