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Anderton to plead guilty today in ID theft

An Ivy League economics graduate arrested in November and accused with his former girlfriend of using the credit records of their Rittenhouse Square neighbors to finance a jet-set lifestyle is expected to plead guilty this afternoon in federal court.

An Ivy League economics graduate arrested in November and accused with his former girlfriend of using the credit records of their Rittenhouse Square neighbors to finance a jet-set lifestyle is expected to plead guilty this afternoon in federal court.

Edward K. Anderton, 25, a competitive swimmer from California who graduated in 2005 from the University of Pennsylvania, will appear before U.S. District Judge Eduardo C. Robreno at a 3 p.m. hearing at the federal courthouse in Center City.

Anderton is half of the couple now popularly known as "Bonnie and Clyde" for their alleged one-year international tour of high living funded with about $232,000 of credit stolen from neighbors and acquaintances.

Jocelyn Kirsch, 22, a student at Drexel University at their time of their arrest, is expected to plead guilty at a hearing Thursday afternoon before Robreno.

Though arrested on the Penn campus and originally charged by the District Attorney's office, their case was transferred earlier last month to federal court.

Both were charged by the U.S. Attorney's office in a criminal information - meaning they waived indictment and intended to plead guilty - with conspiracy, aggravated identity theft, access device fraud, bank fraud and money laundering in a scheme that allegedly victimized 14 banks and businesses.

The pair allegedly stole financial information while visiting neighbors' homes as well as stealing credit cards from purses at a late-night bar.

The couple's travel photos, made public after their arrest, show them swimming in the Caribbean, dining at upscale resorts and kissing under the Eiffel Tower.