Across the country and in Morgan Hill, more people fall victim
to stolen identities every year
Morgan Hill – Though identity theft is nothing new to law enforcement officials, a different twist on the crime has arisen in Morgan Hill leaving local resident Mary Ellen Salzano scrambling to clear her good name.
“This is a new level of sophistication the police are seeing,” Salzano said. “And unfortunately, I’m apparently not the only victim.”
Salzano was a victim of circumstance as the identity thief used a stolen bank account number to create counterfeit checks and printed a random driver’s license number on them that just happened to belong to her.
And although the person with the stolen account number was stuck with the bill, at least temporarily, Salzano still has the headache of proving she’s not responsible for the spending to credit companies and retailers.
“I’ll never be able to go in to Lowe’s or WalMart, or other stores that use a driver’s license check, with this driver’s license,” she said. “I’m going to have to go through the process to get a new one.”
Salzano isn’t alone in a country where identity theft is sky-rocketing. In 2004, 43,839 Californians were victims of identity theft as were 246,570 people nationwide. In California, that equals 122 cases of identity theft per 100,000 people according to a Federal Trade Commission report. And the trend continues in Morgan Hill, according to Morgan Hill Police Cmdr. Joe Sampson, who said identity theft is on the rise here too.
Though the department does not track identity theft as a separate crime category, Sampson said MHPD investigates at least one case per week, if not more.
“We mirror the rest of the nation in this respect. It is one of the fastest growing crimes that we see,” he said. “It is a difficult crime, not only to prevent but also to solve, because it has no boundaries, no jurisdiction. The perpetrator could be someone in Texas, for example.”
Salzano discovered her identity had been stolen while paying for a cart full of groceries at Albertson’s.
“I’ve been shopping there for years, never had a problem writing a check, but was told they could not accept my check,” she said. “The checker could not tell me why, just that I needed to talk to someone else to sort out the problem.”
After doing a little research, Salzano contacted police. It took her some time to figure out what had happened.
If a report is filed with the local police department, Sampson said, sometimes months have gone by since the actual crime, and oftentimes through tracking, it is discovered that the perpetrator is actually someone outside the department’s jurisdiction.
“The detective then must coordinate with a detective of a different jurisdiction,” Sampson said. “It’s very, very challenging. Many departments don’t have someone assigned to track those cases full-time. It’s the challenge of this century.”
Santa Clara County will be offering training for law enforcement agencies soon, with experts in the field giving local officials the benefit of their experience, Sampson said, but the very nature of the crime makes it attractive to criminals.
“As far as the suspect is concerned, it is a victimless crime,” he said. “It doesn’t have same sense of intrusion as when a burglary suspect enters your house. You’re likely to call the police, there’s a face to face confrontation with police if they’re caught in the act, or with you. If they’ve stolen someone’s account number, Social Security number, they’re less likely to have a confrontation.”
And the sentences for identity theft is often far more lenient than other crimes.
“Penalties are like what you get for burglary, larceny, because it is theft and nonviolent,” said Sampson. “Even if a significant amount of theft has taken place, there might be a sentence of three or four years in jail. Many only get probation or a lighter sentence. And the payoff can be very lucrative.”
In many cases, identity theft is used to finance a drug habit, he added.
“We find the less sophisticated types, they take the opportunity when they break into vehicle, someone has left a purse or wallet with Social Security card or credit cards,” he said. “The burglars in those cases are actually looking for money, things to sell, so they can buy narcotics. Occasionally, you’ll find one who is hip to the fact that they may not be savvy enough to use them themselves, but that they can sell the credit cards, sell those to people who can, to someone who knows how to do the whole routine. Many times, when we do a dope arrest, we find a bunch of Social Security cards, credit cards, people’s IDs in the trunk or in the residence.”
With this new century challenge has come help for the beleaguered, Sampson said. There is a Federal Trade Commission hotline, 1-877-ID-THEFT, or 1-877-438-4338, that helps people sort things out.
“There are counselors to help people deal with the problems that result from identity theft,” he said. “It’s a very cumbersome process … But there are steps that people can take to verify that they did not in fact make the illegal purchases.”
Salzano is going through that process right now, opening her eyes, she said, to the fact that the victims of identity theft seem to have very few rights.
“I was told by the stores in question that I could not get a copy of the fraudulent checks that have my driver’s license number on them,” she said. “I could not even find out the name that was used on the checks.”
Her next step, she said, in the lengthy process, is to deal with the Division of Motor Vehicles to get a new driver’s license with a new number.
