A Raleigh, North Carolina man was charged with the identity theft of Slick Rick Walters, the jailed legendary rapper, after he attempted a series of fraudulent transactions and actual impersonations. Twenty-eight-year-old Steven Glenn was arrested and charged with seven counts of fraud, three counts of forgery, two counts of obtaining property under false pretenses, and two counts of identity theft.
Slick Rick has been in a Florida prison for the last 10 months and during the latter part of 2002, Glenn allegedly began a series of bizarre incidents in an attempt to become Slick Rick.
According to a press statement released by Slick Rick’s publicist Bill Adler and his spouse Mandy Aragones revealed that the man allegedly started rerouting the rapper’s mail to North Carolina sometime last year. But, his efforts hardly stopped there according to police.
Police charge that Glenn forged the rapper’s name on royalty checks and then later attempted to withdraw the funds after depositing them in an account. In addition, he donned similar garb as the Rick did back in 1990 and tried to rent out an apartment in the rapper’s birth name.
Continuing, Adler stated Glenn “registered a car, received hospital care, sent out express mail packages, and answered his own phone under Rick’s name.” Only after noticing the lack of mail for Rick did suspicions arise within his wife.
Aragones even stated that upon calling the number listed under the new Slick Rick’s name, a women picked up the phone and stated that her husband was no longer in jail and was even shopping beats for a new album.
Soon, though police and Aragones conspired to stop Glenn, who didn’t manage to swindle any money from the embattled lyricist. At press time, Glenn was still in police custody on $30,000 bond and may face additional criminal charges.
Slick Rick remains in jail after being arrested in June 2002 and currently awaits a decision from a Florida judge on whether or not he can remain in the United States or not. After a five-year prison bid in the 90s, Slick Rick can legally be deported under the law despite being a resident since the 70s.
