Two alleged identity thieves targeting Southwest Florida residents were jailed after an I-75 traffic stop. Around 1 p.m. Wednesday, a Lee County sheriff’s detective conducted a traffic stop of a 1999 Buick Century near Interstate 75’s mile marker 149 in North Fort Myers for traveling too slowly below the posted minimum speed limit of 50 mph and for having an invalid registration.

The driver, Michael Charles Wesley, 44, of the 4200 block of Everglades Terrace, North Port, had a suspended driver’s license and was operating as a habitual offender, a sheriff’s report shows. Background checks of Wesley and his passenger, William F. Cargill, 35, of Jacksonville, revealed both men had extensive criminal histories and numerous arrests for check fraud, check counterfeiting, narcotics sales and violent crimes, the report shows. The two were traveling from the Tampa area to Miami. During a search of the vehicle, authorities say a fraudulent check scheme was uncovered. The suspects were utilizing stolen checks in the names of the victims to access bank account information and obtain cash by defrauding banks, the report shows. At least eight victims of identity theft from the Bonita Springs and Naples area were uncovered during the traffic stop. Both men were booked into the Lee County Jail. Wesley was charged with driving while license is suspended-habitual, eight counts of possession of another person’s ID without consent, fraud/scheme to defraud, and grand theft. Cargill also faces eight counts of possession of another person’s ID without consent, fraud/scheme to defraud and grand theft. Authorities are asking anyone with suspicious checking account activity with cash payments involving an unrecognized checking account to contact the Economic Crimes Unit of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office at 239-477-1000.