NYC temp accused of stealing identities

NEW YORK, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- A former temporary employee at a New York City bank stole the identities of 150 of his fellow employees during his brief employment, prosecutors say.

Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau alleges Adeniyi Adeyemi, 27, used a three-month employment period at Bank of New York Mellon in 2001 to use his co-workers' identities in a $1.1 million theft from various charities, the New York Post said Thursday.

Morgenthau said Adeyemi, who was 19 at the time, used his computer skills and co-workers' identities to create fake bank and brokerage accounts. Officials allege the Nigerian national then electronically transferred funds into those accounts from the accounts of charities.

The Post said Adeyemi pleaded innocent Wednesday to charges of grand larceny, identity theft, money laundering and computer tampering.