WICHITA COUNTY (KFDX/KJTL) — The first of three suspects arrested in a forging and ID theft operation run in a Wichita Falls apartment has pleaded guilty.

John Wade Williams is sentenced to five years in prison for fraud and possession of other persons’ I.D. information.

Special investigators with the Texas Department of Public Safety and officers with the Wichita Falls Police Department’s Financial Crimes Unit served a search warrant at an apartment at Fountaingate Apartments March 22, 2022.

Investigators said the apartment was being used as a base of criminal activity and was leased to Christopher Prince and also being used by two other suspects, Williams and James Robert Dickerson.

Officers said they found blank check stock and computer generated counterfeit checks and personal identifying information of more than 40 victims.

Investigators said police reports were filed as early as November 2021 on the illegal activity.
Dickerson has a plea hearing set for February 17 and has signed a plea deal for 4 years prison.

Prince was arrested later in a DPS special investigation into an alleged meth distribution operation in which agents say they had his vehicle under electronic and mobile surveillance on U.S. 287 between the Metroplex and Wichita Falls and say they found more than 1,000 grams of meth in the vehicle. His case is pending.