'IT'S GOING TO BE AWFUL' COUPLE TRYING TO RECLAIM STOLEN IDENTITIES.

Byline: Greg Botonis Staff Writer

PALMDALE - A Palmdale couple in whose names more than $50,000 in fraudulent store purchases were made fear it will take months - if not years - to straighten out their credit records.

A 31-year-old man and an 18-year-old woman are in jail on suspicion of using Marlee and Shaun Horne's Social Security numbers and other personal information to apply for credit cards at 11 stores and make a four-day shopping spree from Northridge to Lancaster.

``It's been awful, and it's going to be awful for a long time,'' Marlee Horne said Tuesday. ``The credit reporting agencies said it could take two to four years to get all this cleared up because things will go to collections and pop up here and there.''

Destany Larson, 18, and Magua Mayes, 31, both of Palmdale, are accused of making purchases under the Hornes' names starting Aug. 29 at a Northridge jewelry store. In four days, officials said, they charged more than $50,000 in purchases, including jeweled bracelets costing more than $5,000 each, cameras, televisions and appliances.

After the purchases in the Hornes' names stopped, investigators said, Larson and Mayes hid out in Compton for more than a month. They turned themselves in Oct. 19.

Larson and Mayes, who have pleaded not guilty, are jailed in lieu of $220,000 bail each on felony burglary and other charges, records show. Mayes is facing additional charges of marijuana possession and driving on a suspended or revoked license. They are due in court today for a preliminary hearing.

Mayes and Larson, if convicted, face maximum prison sentences of 10 years and four months, Deputy District Attorney John Evans said. But, Evans added, he will offer them prison sentences of three years if they plead guilty.

``We'll treat them with the seriousness they deserve,'' Evans said Tuesday. ``It's the consumer that pays for stuff like this.''

Investigators have not been able to determine where the Hornes' information was obtained.

Larson and Mayes admitted to making the purchases, but said they were forced to do so by a gunman who threatened to kill them if they informed police, a detective said.

``If someone in an office someplace is giving out personal information, I want to know about it so I can stop them,'' said Detective Dan Gordon. ``But these two just aren't talking. They're sticking to their bogus story.''

The pair told investigators they were forced at gunpoint to travel to Los Angeles and get fake identification cards. They said the gunman dropped them off at their Palmdale home that evening and then returned days later and again took them at gunpoint.

The suspects said they were forced to obtain department and jewelry store credit cards and then purchase items to max out the cards the same day. After four days of similar activity, they said, the man never showed up again, Gordon said.

``They're sticking to their story, but it doesn't hold water,'' Gordon said. ``They have the basic story down perfectly, and they both agree on that but when you ask each of them specifics like what did the gun look like or what was he wearing or vehicle descriptions, their story falls apart. It's a bogus story.''

The Hornes found out about the fraudulent purchases when credit cards for which the thieves had applied began arriving in the mail.

And it was the Hornes themselves who found the lead that enabled authorities to identify Larson and Mayes as the suspects: Larson's cell- phone number was on a credit application.

That cell-phone number led detectives to Mayes and Larson's home address.

The Hornes were told that sheriff's detectives have time to investigate only about two percent of identity theft cases.

``We went out and tracked everything down and gave it all to them,'' Marlee Horne said. ``That poor Sheriff's Department Detective Gordon was absolutely wonderful.''

The pair turned themselves in after learning that sheriff's investigators were looking for them, officials said.

``Why were they too scared to say anything after the first day but a month later it's OK?'' Gordon said. ``It doesn't make sense. They use the same type of excuse we hear from 8- or 10-year-old kids caught shoplifting their first time. They always say, my friends threatened to beat me up if I didn't do it. That's what these two are: just a couple of kids who messed up big time.''

The Hornes said they have already spent hundreds of hours trying to clear up the problems that the identity theft has caused, including fielding calls from creditors and talking to credit reporting agencies.

Greg Botonis, [phone]

gregory.botonis(at)dailynews.com