New Jersey woman accused in multistate identity theft scheme after bank complaint.

A Massachusetts complaint about missing money sent police across state lines and ultimately led to the arrest of a 26-year-old New Jersey woman accused of using another person’s identity to withdraw money from a bank account and attempting to repeat the transaction at another Connecticut branch.

Tierra Smikle, 26, faces charges of third-degree forgery, fourth-degree larceny, third-degree identity theft and criminal impersonation in connection with an investigation involving TD Bank branches in Shelton and Westport, Connecticut.

Shelton police said the investigation was conducted with law enforcement agencies in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Smikle was arrested on a warrant and released after posting a $25,000 bond, according to Shelton police. Her case is pending in Superior Court in Derby, where her next court appearance is scheduled for Aug. 18, according to court records provided for this report.

The allegations, detailed in an arrest warrant, describe a scheme that began with a Massachusetts bank customer discovering that $1,550 had disappeared from her TD Bank account. Investigators say the money was withdrawn June 25 at the TD Bank branch on Bridgeport Avenue in Shelton.

The person whose money was taken was not notified of the Shelton withdrawal, according to the warrant, because the person making the withdrawal allegedly presented identification bearing the victim’s name.

Later that day, police say, the same woman went to a TD Bank branch in Westport and attempted another withdrawal.

That attempt failed.

The teller became suspicious and activated TD Bank’s identity-verification procedure, prompting an authentication text to be sent to the actual account holder’s cellphone.

According to the warrant, the woman at the counter said her cellphone had no service and left the bank without completing the transaction.

That mistake gave investigators something the first transaction had not: a trail.

Shelton detectives obtained surveillance footage from the bank and described a woman they believed to be in her mid-20s with black hair worn in a bun and a multicolored shirt. The footage showed her handing what appeared to be a debit or credit card to a teller during the Shelton transaction.

Investigators then obtained surveillance footage from the Westport branch and concluded that the same woman appeared in both locations, according to the warrant.

Police did not stop there. Investigators compared surveillance photographs with information obtained through social media and other records, including driver’s license information, according to the warrant.

The investigation eventually identified the woman as Smikle, according to police.

“Based upon the totality of the investigation,” including surveillance footage, social-media analysis, and law-enforcement database inquiries, investigators identified Smikle as the suspect, the warrant states.

Tierra C. Smikle has no political party affiliation, but she is registered to vote in Plainsboro, Middlesex County, New Jersey. Smikle has also resided in Carteret.

The case illustrates the particular vulnerability of a financial system in which an identification document and a few pieces of personal information can become, in the wrong hands, a passport to someone else’s money.

And the alleged attempt to make another withdrawal may have been the break investigators needed.

According to the warrant, the Massachusetts victim later received two authentication codes associated with the Westport transaction. She told investigators that she had not requested the codes and had not been at the bank.

On July 1, Shelton police contacted Smikle by telephone.

According to the warrant, detectives told her they were investigating a stolen identity and the fraudulent use of a credit card belonging to a Massachusetts victim. Police also told her she had been identified as a suspect in fraudulent cash withdrawals in Shelton and that Westport police were investigating related incidents.

The warrant says Smikle did not appear surprised or confused about the reason for the call. Instead, investigators say, she agreed to cooperate and meet with Shelton police for a formal interview.

She told police she would bring her child because she lives in southern New Jersey, according to the warrant.

The interview never happened.

Police said an attorney representing Smikle subsequently contacted them, and the scheduled interview was canceled.

Days later, detectives obtained the arrest warrant.

Shelton police announced the arrest July 21, describing the case as an investigation into an identity-theft and fraudulent-banking scheme involving multiple TD Bank branches throughout New England. News 12 and Connecticut news outlets subsequently reported the arrest and charges.

The charges are serious, but they remain charges. Smikle has not been convicted of the allegations, and the warrant represents investigators’ account of the evidence they say established probable cause for her arrest. She is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

Still, the allegations expose how quickly a theft that begins with a compromised identity can become a multistate investigation.

A Massachusetts customer lost $1,550. A Connecticut teller’s suspicion stopped another alleged withdrawal. Surveillance cameras preserved images of the person police were looking for. Investigators then followed those images through social media, identification records and law-enforcement databases until they say they had a name.

What began as missing money in one state ended with an arrest in another.

Shelton police used the case to issue a blunt warning to residents: monitor bank and credit-card accounts, remain alert for skimmers, identity theft and check fraud, and report suspicious activity immediately.

In this case, investigators say, a suspicious teller did exactly that.

And the money trail led home.