Carl Edward Washington, a former California state assemblyman and Los Angeles County Probation Department intergovernmental relations chief, was arrested this week after being charged with defrauding three financial institutions, including two credit unions.

According to U.S. District Court documents filed Sept. 13 in California's Central District, Washington allegedly obtained credit cards from financial institutions, including the $492 million First City Credit Union of Los Angeles and the $360 million LA Financial Federal Credit Union of Pasadena, charged several thousand dollars to the cards, then claimed the charges were fraudulent, falsely claiming to be the victim of identity theft.

A release from the office of U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr. said that Washington would provide a copy of the bogus police report to credit reporting agency Experian, and request they remove the credit card and loan histories from his credit report. The loans had substantial unpaid balances and past due amounts, the release said.