New Jersey man arrested after posing as real estate business owner to access firm’s funds at Leominster Fidelity Bank

LEOMINSTER — On Tuesday, June 10, 2025, at approximately 2:05 p.m., Officer Laurinda Dion of the Leominster Police Department was dispatched to the Fidelity Bank located at 9 Leominster Connector following a report of a man attempting to use a fake ID at the bank.

(The account and quotations in this article were sourced from the printed Personnel Narrative of Officer Laurinda Dion and do not reflect any political perspective or personal opinion of News Link Live, which is strictly a business entity.)

“Upon arrival, I spoke with the bank center manager on duty, [name redacted], who reported that a male party was in his office attempting to open a business account,” Officer Dion said. “[The bank center manager] stated that the male party identified himself as Peter Saloom, an existing bank customer, and provided a MA [Massachusetts] license.”

Officer Dion said that when she stepped into the bank center manager’s office and asked the man for his ID, he handed her a MA License with “Peter F. Saloom’s” information on it.

“After handing me the ID, I asked the male for his name, DOB ([redacted]), address, SSN, ([# redacted]) which he provided to me all verbally,” Officer Dion said. “The photo on the ID that the male provided, matched his face. I asked the male if he was diagnosed with any medical/mental conditions or disabilities; he stated he was not diagnosed with anything and didn’t take any medications.”

Officer Dion said that while Officer Christian Schwartz ran the license number through CJIS (the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) database), she spoke with the bank center manager further.

“[The bank center manager] showed me a copy of the account holder’s license from when he originally opened his accounts with Fidelity and Officer Schwartz returned with a photo of Peter Saloom’s license photo,” Officer Dion said. “The photo on CJIS for Peter Saloom was not the same male party sitting in [the bank center manager’s] office claiming to be Peter Saloom; additionally, when held to a light, the MA ID did not possess the hidden outline of the state of Massachusetts, and the back of the card had ‘www.massrmv.com’ instead of ‘www.massrmv.gov.’”

Officer Dion said she then returned to the bank center manager’s office with Sergeant Elvin Vasquez, who had also responded to the scene, told him that he wasn’t “Peter Saloom” and asked him to provide his real name and date of birth.

“The male party had a small leather wallet sitting on the bank manager’s desk which I opened to check for a different ID,” Officer Dion said. “The only item in the wallet was a Barclay Visa Credit Card with Peter Saloom’s name and a signature. I advised the male party the ID he provided was a fraudulent ID and he needed to provide his true identity. The male party was hesitant and stated he didn’t know what to do. Eventually, the male party stated his name was Christopher Sims and provided his SSN ([redacted]). When dispatch was not able to find Christopher’s information in Massachusetts, I asked Christopher where he was from and he replied, New Jersey. I asked Christopher is he had a local address and he stated he was homeless.”

According to police, Christopher R. Sims, 56, is a resident of 10 Hammond Avenue, Clifton, New Jersey.

“Once Christopher was positively identified, I read him Miranda warnings off a card I carry and asked if he understood; he stated he did,” Officer Dion said. “Christopher stated he arrived in Massachusetts today and took public transportation (Uber) to get to the bank. I asked Christopher about the credit card in his possession and he said he’d rather not talk about it. When I advised Christopher he was under arrest, I asked if he had ever been arrested before; he stated he had not, that he was a veteran and that he started using drugs and was making bad decisions.”

Officer Dion said that the bank center manager told her that Sims came into the bank and attempted to open a business account for a real estate business which he claimed he was running with his wife.

“[The bank center manager] provided copies of the paperwork that Christopher brought into the bank which included a Certificate of Organization and a notice from the IRS assigning Peter Saloom (Saloom Home Solutions LLC) with an EIN number of 39-2594121 for the business. [The bank center manager] stated that Christopher did not provide his account number but was able to answer all security questions (his mother’s maiden name). [The bank center manager] stated that Peter’s account contained a significant amount of funds that Christopher would have had access to if the business account was approved.”

Sims was placed under arrest and transported to the Leominster Police Department for booking by Officer Schwartz, while Officer Dion  transported Sim’s property to the station.

“Christopher’s cell phone, which was in his possession during our interaction was seized as evidence; I have reasonable suspicion to believe that Christopher used his cellphone during the commission of crimes to obtain the fraudulent ID and commit identity fraud,” Officer Dion said. “I also seized the fraudulent ID and fraudulently obtained credit card as evidence. Upon return to the station, Detective Ramos placed the cell phone in a faraday bag to protect the contents of the phone.”

While at the station, Detective Shane Crawford told Officer Dion that a notification was sent over MACrimeNet on June 9 from the West Springfield Police Department to identify a male party involved in bank fraud with over $80,000 loss, attached to the email was a photo of Christopher Sims.

“Detective Crawford advised he would reach out to the West Springfield Police Department regarding [the incident] to provide identification,” Officer Dion said.

Officer Dion then called the phone number for Peter Saloom which the bank center manager gave to her.

“The phone number led to a business where I spoke with Linda Saloom, Peter’s wife,” Officer Dion said. “I advised Linda I needed to speak with Peter and asked that he call the Leominster police. I later spoke with Peter over the phone; I advised Peter that a male party, Christopher Sims, posed as him at Fidelity Bank and attempted to open a business account in his name. Peter stated that he did not know anyone by that name and stated that he lost his wallet about a month ago. Peter stated that he cancelled the credit cards in the wallet but did not file a report. I asked Peter if he had a Barclay Credit Card in his name and he said no. I advised Peter that the suspect retrieved his SSN from memory and asked if his SSN card had been lost in his wallet; he stated it was not but he may have written it down and put it in his wallet. I advised Peter that the suspect was even able to provide his mother’s maiden name when answering security questions. When Peter asked how much of his information was vulnerable, I advised him that all of his personal identifying information was compromised and directed him to contact the social security office, the IRS, to file a report with ICC and to run a completed credit card report to identify unauthorized lines of credit in his name.”

Sims was charged with the following:

• Utter False Writing
• Identity Fraud
• Larceny of Credit Card

“Christopher used the fake MA license with Peter’s information and his own photo to pose as Peter Saloom in order to open a bank account and obtain funds,” Officer Dion explained. “Christopher provided the ID to the bank manager as genuine, knowing the ID was forged and altered to appear as real with specific intent to defraud the account holder, Peter Saloom, of funds. Christopher Sims posed as Peter Salom, without the victim’s knowledge or consent, and provided all Peter’s identifying information in order to obtain access to the victim’s Fidelity Bank accounts with the intent to withdraw/transfer money. Lastly, Christopher had in his possession a credit card with Peter Saloom’s name and signature which the victim himself did not apply for or have any knowledge of; the signature on the credit card does not match the signature on the fraudulent ID which can be easily read as ‘Peter Saloom.’ Christopher possessed the credit card knowing the credit card did not belong to him and retained possession of the credit card with intent to use it.”

Officer Dion stated that additional charges may be issued at a later date pending further information.

Sims was arraigned in Leominster District Court on June 11, 2025. Following his arraignment he was released on $1,000 bail under the condition that he “stay out of Fidelity Bank” and not possess false licenses or identification, according to Judge Mark Noonan, who set the bail terms.

Sims attended a pretrial conference on July 9, 2025 over video.

Sims’ next court date is a compliance and election hearing scheduled for Aug. 6, 2025.

Disclaimer: If you are wondering why the incident in this story took place in June, that’s because I had to file FOIA request(s) to obtain the court documents. FOIAs are time-consuming.

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