One Tree Hill actor Antwon Tanner charged with selling social security numbers (original) (raw)

Antwon Tanner, a successful actor and regular on the popular American teen drama One Tree Hill, was charged yesterday with trafficking in social security cards and numbers in federal court in New York.

Tanner, 35, plays a character named Antwon "Skills" Taylor on the show, set in a town in North Carolina. He has a long list of acting credits, including a role in the movie Coach Carter and TV appearances on Boston Public, CSI and NYPD Blue.

He was caught in a sting run by immigration and customs enforcement agents. An undercover agent, through an informant, ended up buying 16 social security numbers and three fake cards from Tanner over the phone for more than $1,000, according to a law enforcement official.

Social security numbers - unassigned, from real people or from dead people - can be used for identity theft, credit card fraud, or to get false passports or other identification documents. The charges didn't specify where Tanner got the numbers and cards or how he thought they would be used.

Tanner pleaded not guilty yesterday. He was released on a $250,000 bond. He could face five years or more in prison on each of two counts, prosecutors said.

Tanner and his lawyer both declined to comment as they rushed out of the courthouse. On the street outside he was immediately recognized by one young man who identified Tanner as the point guard from Coach Carter, a basketball movie starring Samuel L Jackson.