Georgia man arrested for stealing Mercedes by purchasing it with a fake identity

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Antonio Lamont Kendrick, 42, of Lawrenceville, Georgia, was booked into the Alachua County Jail today and charged with grand theft of a motor vehicle, creating a fictitious persona, and fraudulent use of another person’s identity.

Kendrick allegedly went to the Audi dealership on N. Main Street on August 21, 2021, and purchased a 2017 Mercedes Benz for $44,800. Kendrick allegedly provided a driver’s license and credit card in the name of “Tim Jordan, Tim Jordan Inc.” and filled out a credit application in the name of Tim Jordan. While the bank and dealership were waiting for the credit application to be approved, Kendrick was able to leave with the car.

On September 27, 2021, the dealership reported to Gainesville Police Department that the bank had said the credit application was fraudulent. The sales associate said the picture on the driver’s license matched the man who had bought the car, but the driver’s license number matched a different person. The dealership called Kendrick multiple times, asking him to return the car, but he did not return it.

On September 30, 2021, the dealership was able to access the GPS of the vehicle, and it was recovered in Atlanta at an address associated with Tim Jordan Inc. A wallet found in the car reportedly had a Georgia driver’s license with Kendrick’s picture and the name “Mark Aaron Landon,” along with another person’s driver’s license number and address. Another Georgia driver’s license reportedly had Kendrick’s picture with the name and information of yet another person, and eight debit/credit cards were also found in other people’s names.

A GPD detective found that all of the debit/credit cards were linked to real bank accounts. The social security number provided to the dealership came back linked to the name “Tim Jordan,” but although the associated birthday is in 1976, that identity’s credit history only goes back to 2019. The detective concluded that Kendrick had somehow created a credit profile with a fictitious name, date of birth, and social security number. The detective also concluded that Tim Jordan Inc. is a fictitious business profile.

The dealership had taken a full-body profile picture of the man who purchased the car, and the detective used facial recognition software to match the picture with Kendrick and identify the suspect. The detective then learned that Kendrick had been convicted in a federal tax refund fraud scheme in which he sold the identities of over 100 blood donors. Other co-defendants in that case had filed false federal tax refunds with the stolen identities on Kendrick’s behalf.

Kendrick has an “extensive” criminal history and is a registered sexual offender; he is on federal probation and has an active warrant out of Georgia. Judge Thomas Jaworski set bail at $750,000.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.