Feds Nab Suspected Ivy Leage ID Fraudster

Feb. 4, 2008— -- A woman accused of stealing the identity of a missing girl and using it to gain admission to some of the country's top universities pleaded not guilty Monday morning to identity theft and wire fraud charges after being arrested this weekend, federal law enforcement officials say.

Esther Elizabeth Reed was arrested Saturday by police in a Chicago suburb, where she was staying at a local hotel, said Ed Donovan of the Secret Service.

Reed, 29, is suspected of stealing the identity of Brook Henson — a resident of Travelers Rest, S.C., who disappeared eight years ago — and using it to apply for a passport, credit cards and more than $100,000 in student loans to attend Harvard University and Columbia University, according to a federal indictment.

Reed pleaded not guilty in federal court in Chicago to the charges. Federal authorities are taking her to South Carolina to face trial, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeff Cramer. Her court-appointed attorney could not be reached for comment Monday morning.

Reed herself had been missing since 1999, according to a Web site whose creators claim to be Reed's family members. But according to investigators, in May 2006 a Columbia University graduate student alerted authorities that a woman claiming to be Henson had applied to work for her as a housekeeper. After an Internet search, the student learned that Henson was a missing person.

Capt. John Gardner of the Travelers Rest Police Department said Reed was not a suspect in Henson's disappearance, but that he planned to interview her to see if she had any connection to the case. Investigators believe Henson, who was 20 when she disappeared, is most likely dead.

Travelers Rest Det. Clark Brazier said Reed also used the names Natalie Fisher and Natalie Bowman in 2004, around the time she was enrolled at the Harvard Extension School in Cambridge, Mass.

According to the indictment, in May 2004, under Henson's name, Reed was accepted to Columbia University, where she studied for two years. The following year, Reed allegedly received a duplicate of Henson's birth certificate in the mail, adding mail fraud to the federal charges against her.