MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Cordova man is facing serious charges after allegedly stealing a woman’s identity and using it to rack up more than $100,000 in debt in a scheme that involved a Cajun restaurant on Florida Street.
Marcus Dorris, 40, is locked up at 201 Poplar Monday night.
The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office says he stole Taraniese Harris’s personal information back in 2017, opened a credit account in her name and used it to buy equipment for his restaurant.
Deputies say Dorris worked with Harris on several projects. They say he forged her signature on lease agreements so he could rent things like restaurant benches and stoves, to the tune of $107,086, for a restaurant called Cajun Grill.
Harris didn’t realize she was in debt until a year later when one of the leasing companies called her about a past due bill for Cajun Grill. The restaurant was located downtown where Krewe of Deja Vu now sits.
WREG reported on Dorris several years ago when two women invested in a concert series he was promoting. They claim they were cheated out of the profits.
“He was basically like I’m not going to pay you all and you’re going to have to take it up in court,” one woman told us.
We initially heard about Dorris years before that, in a completely unrelated case, after a dog escaped from an animal clinic he owned. He blamed that incident on employee neglect.
As for this latest incident, Dorris is charged with stealing someone’s identity, forgery, and theft. He’s due in court tomorrow.
