Full Notification

On April 13, 2017, the City of Palm Springs Treasurer’s officer notified the Palm Springs Police Department of potential fraud occurring against one of the City of Palm Springs’ bank accounts.  The city Treasurer’s office provided Palm Springs PD with information and details that assisted investigators with identifying a suspect in this fraud.

Based on this information, Palm Springs PD Property Crimes Detectives identified a primary suspect and location of interest in Victorville, CA.

On Friday, July 21, 2017, the Palm Springs Police Department Property Crimes unit, with the assistance of the PSPD Crimes Against Person’s Unit, served a search warrant in Victorville at approximately 1200 p.m..

The suspect, Ryan Carter 4/23/82, who was identified as the primary suspect and had multiple aliases, made multiple fraudulent attempts to access one of the City's bank accounts in an attempt to steal money and open lines of credit.

Carter was located and arrested without incident during the service of the search warrant at his home in Victorville, CA. During the search of Carter’s home, evidence related to this specific case and additional crimes related to Identity Theft and Fraud were discovered and seized. Additionally, Carter was found with multiple fake IDs.

Carter is not a former employee, vendor nor has any other known association with the City of Palm Springs. Exactly how Carter obtained the city’s banking information is still under investigation and PSPD Detectives are still attempting to identify other potential victims. We do not know if any other cities have been targeted by Carter at this but investigators are looking into that possibility.

Carter was booked into Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility and a bail increase of $1,000,000 was authorized by a local judge.

SUSPECT:

Carter, Ryan J.  DOB – 4/23/82

Victorville, CA

530.5 – Identity Theft - $1,000,000.00 bail

Booking Location: Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility, Banning, CA