Detective Honored For Cracking Child Abuse, ID Theft & Tax Fraud Cases

During a ceremony Thursday at the Creve Coeur Government Center, Police Chief Glenn Eidman honored several department staff for their work, and named Detective Nicole Bible the Police "Officer of the Quarter." 

Below are excerpts from the material Chief Eidman read to the assembled crowd of city employees, city officials and the public:

On September 11 2012, Detective Bible was assigned to investigate a child abuse case which occurred in the 12400 block of Lighthouse Way. The case involved the alleged beating of a 4 year old. The information had been passed on to her through the Missouri Division of Family Services. After several interviews with family and friends, her investigation led her to arrest the child’s biological father. Detective Bible was able to gain a lawful confession from the father, and obtained felony warrants against him for child abuse.

Patch previously reported on the arrest and charge in the case involving Azael Loza-Gonzalez. The Class C Abuse Or Neglect Of A Child case will be back in front of a St. Louis County Circuit Court judge next month.

On September 14 2012, Detective Bible was assigned to investigate an identity theft case. The call originated as on duty patrol units had responded to a local bank for a fraud in progress.  After the arrest at the bank, Detective Bible discovered the suspect was part of a ten person ‘ring’ from the Chicago area here in St Louis to commit a rash of identity thefts. They were also using false identification to pass ‘no account’ checks at a number of banks in our area. Warrants were issued. 

On October 30 2012, Creve Coeur Police responded to 10950 Olive Blvd. for a report of a fraud in progress. Upon arrival, Officers discovered a mother and daughter team attempting to cash stolen personal checks from the account of a woman who was deceased. Detective Bible was assigned the case, and her investigation led her to the discovery of income tax fraud.  Detective Bible notified one of her contacts with the IRS, and they began a joint investigation into the incident.  The case culminated in the discovery of over $1.4 million dollars in fraudulent tax return checks cashed across the country by these suspects. Federal warrants were issued as a result of this investigation.

Patch reported on the arrest and federal indictment of Patrina Taylor, as a result of the incident in question. Federal authorities in November also arrested and charged the alleged ringleader of the identity theft ring.

Detective Bible earned quarterly honors in April of 2012.

Patch will report on the other officers honored at Thursday's event later this week.