By Heather Harris / Richmond Register News Writer

A Laurel County man who allegedly defrauded several Madison County banks out of thousands of dollars has been captured with the help of high-tech face recognition and old-fashioned police pursuit.

Bruce Kevin Hacker, 44, of East Bernstadt, is charged with multiple crimes in connection with the theft of stolen checks from mailboxes in at least three Kentucky counties.

Hacker was arrested Thursday during what he thought was a routine probation check.

“The guy was on parole and his probation officer asked him to come in for a drug test,” Berea Police Department Capt. Ken Clark said. “When he did, officers from the Richmond Police Department, the Berea Police Department, the Madison County Sheriff’s Office and federal postal inspectors were there to meet him.”

Hacker’s alleged scheme was first pieced together during a monthly meeting with area bank security officers in the Madison County area, Clark said.

At the time, several banks, had been “hit,” Clark said, by fraudulent checks brought into the bank and deposited in the correct account, with portions of the profits cashed out.

Hacker allegedly found mailboxes in Madison, Rockcastle and Laurel counties that held blank checks issued to postal customers through a credit card company, police said.

“Basically, people will get these checks sent to them from Visa or Discover or some other credit agency and they are blank checks,” Clark said. “They are in the cardholder’s name, but they can be made out to whomever.”

Hacker would then allegedly search for other mailboxes that contained outgoing mail.

“We have reports that he would go around searching for mailboxes with the flag up so he would know there was outgoing mail,” Clark said. “That way, he knew that there might be a check going out where someone was paying a monthly bill and he could use that check to get someone’s name and account number.”

Combining those two illicit acts, Hacker would then allegedly write a blank credit card issued check from one victim to another.

“For instance, if he had your name and account number, he would take this blank credit-issued check from one mailbox or victim and write it to you, after he had a personal check of yours he had stolen from your mail,” Clark explained. “That way, he had your name and account number and someone else’s check written to you, and he would simply go to the bank and deposit it.”

Hacker, once at the bank, would not just cash the illicit check, but use the account numbers to deposit a portion and return some in cash to himself.

“Basically what was happening was that Hacker was writing the check for say, $2,000, and depositing half and getting half back in cash,” Clark said.

As the thefts were taking place, evidence identifying Hacker was mounting.

“Pictures from bank surveillance and descriptions of his vehicle were coming in from Richmond, Berea and Rockcastle County,” Clark said.

Several clear facial shots of the suspect were sent to The Kentucky Intelligence Fusion Center, a division of U.S. Homeland Security.

“There were good pictures of him from the security cameras and Fusion was able to identify him through facial recognition,” Clark said. “They have access to driver’s license photos and a lot of information. They ran the pictures through and got a match.”

Once the name of the alleged perpetrator was known, police arrested Hacker in Laurel County and brought him to Madison County for interrogation.

Richmond police charged Hacker with three counts of second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument. Berea Police also charged him with theft of mail matter, and three counts of second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument. Charges are forthcoming from the Madison County Sheriff’s Office related to other crimes.