A 32-year-old Birmingham man who worked as a customer service representative for a tax software company is being sought after investigators say he stole one man's identity and threatened to steal a client's identity.

Tony Michael Canterberry, who has a criminal history, emailed and berated a client and threatened to steal his identity, according to Jefferson County sheriff's officials. He is now charged with identity theft, but has refused to meet with investigators and even has questioned their ability to find him.

"He says his superior intelligence will keep us from catching him,'' said Chief Deputy Randy Christian. "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.

Investigators have now secured four felony warrants charging Canterberry with identity theft. He remains at large.

Christian said that once he is captured, his bond will be set at $340,000.

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.

Anyone with information about his location is asked to call the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office at 205-325-1450 or CrimeStoppers at 205-254-7777.