Tony Michael Canterberry Photos.jpg

Tony Michael Canterberry

(Blount County, Tenn. Jail, Jefferson County Jail, Hoover City Jail)

An identity theft suspect who taunted investigators by claiming he had superior intellect and was too smart to be caught is now in custody.

Tony Michael Canterberry, 32, was arrested last week near a trailer park in Tennessee, Jefferson County sheriff's officials announced today. Canterberry, of Homewood, has been sought by Alabama lawmen since March when investigators said the customer service representative for a tax software company stole one man's identity and threatened to steal a client's identity.

Canterberry, who has a criminal history, emailed and berated a client and threatened to steal his identity, said Chief Deputy Randy Christian. Authorities charged him with identity theft but he repeatedly refused meet with investigators and even has questioned their ability to find him.

"He says his superior intelligence will keep us from catching him,'' Christian said in March. "That has to be a good sign for us."

Christian provided this account of what happened: On March 19, the sheriff's office Investigators received an email from a victim in another state that indicated he had received direct threats to steal his identity from a man who lived in Jefferson County. The victim included copies of correspondence between himself and the suspect.

The victim told lawmen he had contacted customer service for a large tax preparation software company in an effort to resolve an issue with his income tax return. The customer service representative was rude and insulting, and the victim said he was offended by the behavior. The victim ended the call.

The next day, the victim received an email from the customer service representative that berated him and indicated he should consider showing proper respect "especially when it concerns an issue as vital as your identity". The victim considered the email to be threatening, and contacted the company directly. He was told that the customer service representative worked for a contractor and would be fired because of this.

The next day, the victim received a second email from the suspect. That email indicated that the suspect only used his position as a customer service representative to "obtain necessary data to pursue my actual career." The suspect went on to describe the actions he had taken to avoid discovery and how he planned to destroy the victim's identity.

Sheriff's investigators found who they thought was the suspect and found that he, too, had been a victim of identity theft. Canterberry, they said, stole that man's identity to get his job as a customer service representative. The man who had claimed to be him while corresponding with the initial victim had stolen his identity to obtain work as a customer service representative.

Once they identified the suspect as Canterberry, detectives reached out to him by email and asked that he call them or come talk to them about this case. He has refused to do so, instead commenting about how intelligent he is and how he would not be captured. He also emailed AL.com multiple times claiming the stories about him were untrue and requesting to give his side of the story, but he never followed through or provided telephone contact information. At one point, in April, he was believed to be in the Dothan area.

Jefferson County investigators secured four felony warrants charging Canterberry with identity theft. Canterberry was convicted of third-degree burglary, a felony, in 2008. He was sentenced to 46 months in prison, court records show. Authorities said he also has previous charges of illegal possession of a credit card and theft.

Canterberry was arrested in Tennessee on June 2, Christian said. Deputies with the Blount County, Tenn. Sheriff's Office were dispatched to a trailer park to investigate a suspicious vehicle in the area. They found the vehicle at a nearby antique mall, and a computer check of the vehicle's tag indicated the car was likely driven by Canterberry.

He gave deputies a fake name when they initially made contact with him, but investigators eventually identified him as Canterberry. He is charged in Tennessee with possession of drugs, identity theft, theft of property and possession of drug paraphernalia. Christian said Canterberry will remain in Tennessee to face those charges, and then will be extradited to Alabama. His charges in Jefferson County carry a $340,000 bond.

"Drugs apparently overcame his superior intellect and another genius has been captured,'' Christian said. "Maybe he can use his time incarcerated to figure out he is smart enough to be a giver to society rather than a taker. That is the goal."