A 36-year-old Phoenix man is behind bars after police say he and a woman used someone else's identity to buy a $4,200 riding mower and rent a trailer from a Camp Verde Tractor Supply, then drove off without paying for either. Christerful Ray Bryant Jr. was booked into the Yavapai County Detention Center after officers arrested him near 19th Street and Broadway Road in Phoenix, and investigators are still searching for his alleged accomplice, identified as 30-year-old Fatuma Salim.
According to the FOX 10 Phoenix report by Elias Weiss, the Camp Verde Marshal's Office investigated the alleged fraudulent purchase of the Toro zero-turn mower and utility trailer after the male and female suspects were tied to a Tractor Supply transaction that police say relied on another person's identifying details to open a store credit account. The suspects allegedly left the store on August 10 in a dark-colored Jeep Wagoneer towing the trailer, and neither the mower nor the trailer has been returned, police said.
License Plate Cameras Led Investigators South to Phoenix
Camp Verde investigators leaned on automated license plate recognition cameras to identify the getaway vehicle, then tracked the Jeep heading south on Interstate 17 toward Phoenix, according to the same report. That surveillance network is a relatively new tool for the small Yavapai County agency: the Town of Camp Verde approved funding in July 2025 for the Camp Verde Marshal's Office to outfit patrol vehicles with mobile plate readers and pursue stationary Flock Safety cameras along high-traffic corridors like I-17, according to Journalaz.com. Camp Verde spans about 42.3 square miles and roughly 12,100 residents in Yavapai County, with the town sitting along I-17 approximately 90 miles north of Phoenix, per Wikipedia.
The technology that helped crack this case is also drawing fresh scrutiny statewide. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes launched a statewide review of automated license plate reader technology in August 2026 to examine privacy and Fourth Amendment concerns, following reported instances of officer misuse and program cancellations in several municipalities, according to the Arizona Attorney General's Office.
Documents Point to Fraud Across Two States
When officers searched Bryant's Jeep, the same report notes, they found the Camp Verde Tractor Supply rental agreement along with receipts and documents connecting him to other alleged fraudulent transactions across Arizona and California. Bryant was charged with identity theft, fraudulent schemes, forgery, criminal impersonation, theft and failure to return rented property, per the FOX 10 Phoenix account. Salim remains at large, and the whereabouts of the missing mower and trailer are still unknown.
Arizona correctional records show Bryant previously served time at the ASP-Kingman Cerbat facility after being admitted in March 2013, before receiving an absolute discharge in July 2016, according to Inmate Releases. That history could matter in sentencing: fraudulent schemes under A.R.S. § 13-2310 is a Class 2 felony in Arizona, carrying a presumptive prison term of 3 to 12.5 years for a first-time conviction, according to DM Cantor.
Additional Charges Carry Their Own Steep Penalties
The identity theft charge tied to opening the store credit line falls under A.R.S. § 13-2008, a Class 4 felony carrying a presumptive prison term of 2.5 years or up to 10 years of probation, per Brian DiPietro Law. Separately, failing without good cause to return rented property like the trailer within 72 hours can escalate to a Class 5 felony punishable by up to 2.5 years in prison when a motor vehicle or utility trailer is involved, according to Phoenix Criminal Attorney.
The account used to open the Tractor Supply credit line runs through Citi Retail Services, a division of Citibank that has managed Tractor Supply's store credit accounts and co-branded cards for years, according to Citi. Identity theft tied to retail credit applications is a persistent problem statewide: Arizona recorded 16,584 identity theft complaints in 2024 federal data compiled by the Insurance Information Institute, and reported consumer losses from financial fraud and cyber-enabled scams in the state reached $337 million that year, a 384% increase since 2020, per the Common Sense Institute.
Anyone with information on Salim's whereabouts or the missing mower and trailer is asked to contact the Camp Verde Marshal's Office at 928-554-8300, which provided the information for the original report.
