Jocelyn & Eddie: “Poster children for ID theft”

A former Center City couple were charged today by federal authorities with stealing the identities of at least 16 people and using them to illegally gain at least $119,000 in cash and merchandise.

They also tried to scam another $112,000 but failed, officials said.

U.S. Attorney Pat Meehan today called Jocelyn Kirsch and Edward Anderton "the poster children for identity theft." He said their victims included not just strangers but also co-workers, neighbors and friends.

State charges against the two were dropped today in favor of the federal prosecution.

Meehan, describing an elaborate, year-scheme during which the pair allegedly donned disguises to withdraw money from bank accounts they created in others' names, said prosecutors will aim to insure Kirsch and Anderton receive 5-year prison terms.

He declined comment on a report that Kirsch at least would plead guilty under an agreement with prosecutors.

Her attorney Ronald Greenblatt told the Associated Press his client will plead guilty to six counts, including two counts of aggravated identity theft, one count of bank fraud and one count of money laundering.

"She's supposed to be graduating college now, and instead she's going to be going down to federal court in a few weeks and entering a plea," Greenblatt said today.

"Their year of living dangerously has caught up with them now," said U.S. Attorney Meehan.

Kirsch, 22, who left Drexel University in Philadelphia after being charged, faces a mandatory minimum of two years in prison, with a potential of more than five years.

Her boyfriend Edward Anderton, 25, also signed a federal plea deal, Greenblatt told the AP, but did not give details. His attorney, Larry Krasner said this morning he would have no comment.

Authorities allege the couple victimized at least 16 people - including friends, co-workers, neighbors, fellow students, bar patrons and others - by stealing their identities and credit card information for a year beginning in November 2006.

"These defendants helped themselves to the financial viability of their friends and co-workers, reinventing ways in which to victimize those who had trusted them, for little more than their own entertainment," Meehan said today.

Anderton stole personal data from someone who provided it as part of a job application at the real estate equity firm where he worked, authorities allege.

Police said the fraud enabled the couple to finance their $3,000-a-month Rittenhouse Square apartment and luxury trips to Paris, London and Hawaii.

City police released copies of the couple's vacation photos after their arrest in December. At that time detectives also showed off a table full of fake ID cards and driver's licenses they had seized, along with computers, printers, a machine that makes ID cards, $17,000 in cash and several neighbors' keys.

The vacation photos show the couple swimming in the Caribbean, dining at upscale resorts and kissing under the Eiffel Tower. Kirsch is often seen posing in bikinis and slinky outfits.

Anderton, who has returned to his hometown of Everett, Wash., graduated in 2005 from the University of Pennsylvania with an economics degree. Kirsch, the daughter of a North Carolina plastic surgeon, now lives in Novato, Calif.

Police started investigating after a neighbor was told she had a package waiting from a British retailer - an order she had never placed. Suspecting identity theft, she called police, who staked out the UPS store and caught Anderton and Kirsch.