Marion man arrested in identity theft case

A Marion man accused of taking a Florence man’s Social Security number, stealing from his bank account twice and getting a Verizon phone in his name has been arrested — but only after the victim said he contacted the U.S. Secret Service himself.

Kenneth Alan Batton, 37, was arrested Wednesday morning and is charged with two counts of financial identity fraud and one count of financial transaction card fraud, according to a press release issued Wednesday by the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.

One of the suspect’s alleged victims, James Backus of Florence, said he almost ruined his life and his near-perfect credit score.

Backus said he was frustrated because the suspect carried out his thieving tactics for three months without being arrested, even though Florence and Marion county deputies were contacted and presented with banking and credit records.

Backus said his personal financial meltdown began in September after credit card companies began calling and asking him to verify opening several accounts.

He filed a report with Florence County sheriff’s deputies, who referred him to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.

After reviewing his credit report, Backus discovered the suspect had deleted his contact information and replaced it with his own.

Backus corrected the information with the credit bureau, but the suspect immediately changed it back before locking Backus out of his account.

Things continued to spiral out of control for Backus after his wife received a letter from Wachovia bank.

“She said, ‘When did you change our mailing address on our checking account?’” he said. “I said, ‘What?’ I did not change the mailing address on our checking account.”

It was later discovered the culprit called Wachovia with Backus’ Social Security number. The bank representative, in turn, released all of Backus’ banking information to the culprit who used it to tamper with account. Backus said he warned Wachovia about the fraudulent activity, but the suspect went on to steal $2,300 from his checking account because of a banking error.

Backus said the Marion deputy assigned to the case told him he didn’t have enough evidence to arrest the suspect.

Marion County Sheriff Mark Richardson said information was scarce at the time the incident was reported, but deputies worked to supoena records in connection with the case.

All of this takes time and the investigation is ongoing, Richardson said.

Backus said that’s when he took the investigation to the next level by looking in the telephone book and calling a U.S. Secret Service special agent in Columbia.

He made the call in October and the agent immediately made arrangements to meet with him at 10 a.m. the following Monday.

He got his case file from the Marion investigator before heading to Columbia.

“I was there at 9 a.m. and I met with him at 9:10 a.m,” Backus said. “I felt good leaving that place. The way he talked to me, I felt like he was going to do something about it and he did.”

A month later, Secret Service agents and deputies went to the suspect’s house and arrested him.

Marion County Sheriff’s Capt. Judith Barker said the arrest was made after a lengthy investigation. Batton will likely face federal charges in addition to state charges for the crimes.

Richardson said Batton has served time in prison previously on similar charges.

Batton will have a bond hearing at 10 a.m. today in Marion.

“I’m going to be there,” Backus said. “It’s been a long time, but I kept calling, I never gave up.”