Former Pittsburgh Teacher Accused Of eBay Fraud, Identity Theft

Jason Joy Faces State Charges; Feds Also Investigating

PITTSBURGH -- "He is probably the biggest fraudster I have seen. I've never seen anybody like him," said Pennsylvania state trooper Thomas Broadwater of Jason Joy.

Broadwater said Joy, of Uniontown, is accused of stealing the identities of family members and a former student.

Broadwater said, "He was using their debit cards to pay for the fees for selling stuff and they got their statements and saw these charges to eBay or PayPal and they were like,`I didn't do this'."

Joy was once Erin Plavecsky's math professor at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. He no longer works there.

Plavecsky says she tried to buy something on eBay and found her PayPal account was frozen.

Plavecsky said, "When I called PayPal to find out why, they told me that there was another account with my name on it and that account was frozen because it was negative $300."

She also said, "He opened up an account on PayPal and was selling stuff in my name."

Plavecsky was getting calls from people because the goods they ordered from the account in her name weren't being delivered.

Investigators said the items ordered included rare coins and Rolex watches.

Kerry Joy is Jason Joy's ex-wife and an alleged victim.

She said, "It was a very big surprise to me. I've had many people call me at home and harassing me in the middle of the night asking where their stuff is from eBay."

According to a criminal complaint, a U.S. postal inspector has been investigating Joy for about a year for eBay fraud complaints from at least 100 victims throughout the United States.

Broadwater said, "Items were either bid on and not paid for or sold and never sent."

State police in Uniontown used computer forensics to track Joy to various e-mail addresses.

Broadwater said, "I was having actual real-time conversations with him through e-mails ."

The trooper was also able to pinpoint a library computer in central Pennsylvania that Joy was using.

Broadwater said, "He was found to be actually using that e-mail address when he said he never did."

Police knew he was using the computer because they had someone physically go to the library and look at him while he was online .

When Target 11 investigator karen Welles confronted Joy and asked if he stole anyone's identity, Joy refused to answer her.

Joy's attorney also refused to answer questions about the case.

Joy finds out June 25 if he'll be ordered to stand trial on identity theft charges.

Officials also expect a federal indictment against him as well.

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