Source: Lake County Daily Herald
A North Carolina woman accused of using the identities of four Lincolnshire residents to steal more than $100,000 was ordered held on $10 million bond Saturday by a Lake County judge. Lincolnshire police said Germaine Aretha Elcock, 32, who apparently goes by many aliases, was swindling hundreds of people nationwide and called 35 numbers in Lincolnshire alone.

Focusing on nursing homes and retirement communities, police said Elcock used the telephone and Internet to get elderly people to reveal their financial information. She then set up false credit card accounts, looted victim’s bank accounts and retirement funds and arranged for wire transfers of money to her home in Carlisle, authorities said.

Lincolnshire police subpoenaed her telephone records and discovered she had called more than 30 people in the village, many of whom called police to report their suspicions. She is charged with aggravated identity theft and theft over $100,000 and faces a mandatory prison sentence of up to 30 years if convicted. Elcock waived her right to an extradition hearing in North Carolina on March 14 and was transferred to Lake County late Friday. She appeared before Associate Judge Daniel Shanes Saturday morning. A court date is pending, police said.