Crime & Safety

3 Charged with Forgery, ID Theft

The men forged checks and stole identities, according to police.

Three men who came to Bensalem to compete in a poker tournament allegedly conspired to write phony checks and steal identities, according to police.

Two of the men, Omar Tumu Clark, 32, of the 900 block of Charlotte, N.C., and Sterling I Idokogi, 25, of the 300 block of Ross Court in Wyncote, were arrested on Friday and each charged with 22 felony counts of forgery, a misdemeanor count of identity theft and related charges. 

On Friday at 3 a.m. Pennsylvania State Police pulled over a 2014 Chevrolet Equinox bearing North Carolina registration after the driver, Sterling Idokogi, was allegedly driving 76 miles per hour in a 55 mile per hour zone along Interstate 95, according to court documents. Police said Idokogi did not have a valid driver’s license.

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Clark, who police said was a passenger in the vehicle, allegedly presented police with a New Jersey driver’s license bearing his photograph and the name Ryan Morgan.

Police said the license “did not appear to be consistent” with other New Jersey driver’s licenses, but Clark insisted that he was Morgan, according to the affidavit of probable cause.

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The vehicle’s rental agreement was not made in either Clark or Idokogi’s name, which raised another red flag, according to police.

Police then asked to search the vehicle, according to documents. Following the search, police said 17 blank checks belonging to a South Carolina couple were recovered, as well as five checks made out to the couple from an Evington, Va. electrical company, each in the amount of $293.45. State police contacted the company and were told that the company did not write the checks, or authorize anyone else to write them.

Also recovered from the car was a black wallet with a North Carolina driver’s license for Cory Jai Biddle, 32, of the 1400 block of Sansberry Road in Charlotte N.C.

Clark allegedly told police that Biddle was his cousin and the two rented the vehicle and were staying together in Pennsylvania. Biddle told police that they came to the area to play in a poker tournament at Parx Casino, according to the affidavit of probable cause. 

Inside Biddle’s wallet, police found the names and accompanying Social Security numbers of three people, according to court records. 

Police contacted two of the people whose names were allegedly listed on the paper inside Biddle’s wallet. A man told police that his identity had been stolen in April, but he did not know by whom. He told police that the fraudulent activity is “so severe” that he is unable to open a bank account, according to court documents.

He and a woman whose names and Social Security numbers were allegedly inside Biddle’s wallet both referenced having their credit checked in Georgia at a car dealership by a salesman named Cory, according to police. The woman told police that she was unaware of fraudulent activity, but told police that Biddle was not authorized to have her personal information.

Biddle was arrested on Saturday and charged with 22 counts of forgery and a misdemeanor count of identity theft. He is being held in Bucks County Correctional Facility in lieu of 10 percent of $10,000 and awaits a preliminary hearing next week.

Sterling is being held in Bucks County Correctional Facility in lieu of 10 percent of $150,000 bail. Clark is being held in Bucks County Correctional Facility in lieu of 10 percent of $50,000 bail. Both men await preliminary hearings next week.


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