JOPLIN — Trials are in the works for a pair of defendants charged with separate incidents of trafficking stolen identities.
Both waived preliminary hearings Thursday, the Joplin Globe reported.
Frederick E. Phillips, 36, will stand trial on counts of trafficking in stolen identities and unlawful possession of a firearm.
The charges pertain to an arrest made April 16 by a Joplin police officer who was looking for a suspect in another crime when he spotted Phillips and mistook him for the suspect. As he was detaining Phillips, a hypodermic needle fell out of a bag Phillips was carrying, the newspaper reported
A probable-cause affidavit states that the officer subsequently learned Phillips’ actual identity and that he had several outstanding warrants issued in other states. The officer also purportedly found a handgun and identification and credit cards belonging to seven other people in the defendant’s possession.
In a separate case related to a traffic stop Feb. 20 by police in Carterville, Mo., Rikki N. Mull, 32, of Jay, Oklahoma, waived a hearing on a count of trafficking in stolen identities, the Globe reported.
Stopped for a lane violation, Mull’s nervousness led to a search of her vehicle that turned up identification belonging to five other people, according to a probable-cause affidavit.
