Bronx man arrested for forgery, identity theft in Bellefonte

A Bronx, N.Y., man reportedly attempted to purchase an iPhone using a false identification in Bellefonte.

According to Bellefonte police, officers were called at about 3:30 p.m. Saturday to the Wireless Made Simple Verizon store for a reported fraud attempt. The caller advised that a man was in the store using a fake driver’s license to finance a cellphone.

The officers spoke with the man upon arrival, police said, who identified himself as David Sanderson with a Pennsylvania driver’s license. An officer noted the license did not have a raised seal and the magnetic strip and information on the back was a low-resolution photo.

Police ran the operator number, police said, which came back as a Reading resident. The store employee told officers the man identified himself as Sanderson and financed a new iPhone 7, valued at $880, and was attempting to open two other phone lines with new phones.

After advising that the license given to them was a fake, the man reportedly identified himself as Pedro, police said. His identity was later confirmed at the station as Pedro R. Dilone, 28.

Officers also found a small bag containing suspected marijuana on Dilone, police said. It later field-tested positive for the drug.

Dilone was arraigned Saturday before District Judge Thomas Jordan, according to court documents, and charged with felony counts of forgery and unauthorized device access and misdemeanor charges of false identification to law enforcement, theft by deception, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, theft of services and identity theft. Bail was set at $150,000.

A preliminary hearing is set for March 29.

This story was originally published March 20, 2017 at 6:54 PM.