Captured!

We totally missed this story from last month, but someone on the government's Most Wanted list (and TV’s America’s Most Wanted website) has been captured: Esther Elizabeth Reed. Her crime: Identity theft. Unlike others who commit this crime, though, Reed did not run up debts. Instead, it appears she assumed these identities – one was Brooke Henson, a girl who’s been missing for most of the last decade – to attend a few colleges, Harvard and Columbia (for almost two years) included. In other words, she was getting a pretty good education (although to pull this off, she had to have some smarts to begin with).

When authorities were first onto her, Reed was able to split before they reached her apartment, leaving almost everything behind. She just took her cat, her brushes/combs and toothbrush … items no doubt heavy with her DNA. But now she's in custody and the story is ongoing. According to the New York Post , some actually suspect – perhaps in an attempt to figure out why she’d go to school rather than shopping – that she was training to be a foreign spy. Either way, this year is providing some great characters. We recently reported on actual twin brother grifters. And here is someone who the Post beautifully described as a “cunning co-ed con artist.” You really can’t ask for more.

Needless plug: If you really want an education, you can bypass the Most Wanted list and just pre-order our book.