Credit card scheme probed

An investigation into a credit-card fraud ring linked to a worker at the State Department is being coordinated among three federal law- enforcement agencies and D.C. police. But officials yesterday would not release the name or status of the employee.

“This is an ongoing investigation,” said Darby Holladay, a spokesman for the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security.

The employee — who was not identified in documents filed in U.S. District Court in the District — was implicated in the fraud scheme after a suspect stopped last month by a Metropolitan Police Department officer was found in possession of 21 credit cards and eight printouts of State Department passport applications.

Leiutenant Quarles Harris Jr., 24, later told federal authorities that he “obtained passport information from a co-conspirator who works for the U.S. Department of State,” court documents show.

Mr. Harris said the fraud ring submitted credit-card applications using the names and identifying information of people listed on the applications, court documents state, and that an employee with the U.S. Postal Service would intercept the cards before they were delivered to the intended residences.

Mr. Holladay would not say whether the implicated State Department employee remained on staff. Mr. Harris has been charged by complaint in U.S. District Court with credit-card fraud and is the only person arrested so far in the case.

Channing Phillips, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District, said the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service, the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Postal Service and the Metropolitan Police Department are working on the case.

He would not comment on additional charges that may be pending, citing “the ongoing nature of the investigation.”

The report is the latest blow to the State Department, after The Washington Times reported last month that three contract employees at the agency were being investigated for improperly accessing the passport data of three presidential candidates.

The Times also reported on overcharges for blank passports produced by the U.S. Government Printing Office.

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Passport Services Ann Barrett left her post Friday. A State Department spokesman attributed the move to management changes.

Mr. Harris of Capitol Heights was pulled over March 25 in Southeast by a city officer who suspected that the windows on his vehicle were tinted too darkly.

He also is facing charges of credit-card fraud in Maryland, from a September incident at Nordstrom in Annapolis Mall. Court records show that Mr. Harris purchased 10 gift cards at the store worth $1,000 each with a credit card that did not belong to him.

A preliminary hearing in Mr. Harris’ D.C. case has been scheduled for Monday.