If your identity gets stolen ...

Another local blogger, Carrie On The Cheap, has a post here about having her ID stolen, as well as some advice on reacting to the crime.

Most MO divorce records are now closed to the public

That's because of a new law designed to protect people from identity theft. (The old records, with their bank account info and credit-card numbes, were pretty useful for that kind of crime.) NEW divorce records will continue to be open, but officials will be redacting all of the potentially harmful data, the Post-Dispatch reports.

"One Tree Hill" actor pleads to ID theft

Antwon Tanner has pleaded guilty to selling 16 Social Security numbers for $10K. He's only on the CW, so maybe he needed the money.

Wisconsin man drove his boss to suicide, prosecutors allege

The defendant is a 33-year-old EMT who allegedly got into his boss' email account and forwarded emails that reportedly showed the boss "trading sexual innuendoes with a female employee," the AP reports. The EMT sent those messages to several people, including the boss' wife. The boss later committed suicide.

He told investigators he wanted people to know that his boss, who started the EMS program, was not a "golden boy."

The EMT argued that he was merely using his First Amendment right to criticize a public official and noted the information in the emails was true. The Wisconsin Supreme Court, though, says that he couldn't claim that defense if he stole his boss' identity -- which he could be guilty of, if he got into the dead man's email and sent messages there.

Hat Tip: Many thanks, JUNGLE JIM!

Do you know this man?

From OPPD: Mario Ladale McIntosh, B/M, 5’ 9”, 250 lbs., with black hair and brown eyes is wanted for Identity Theft and possession of property that did not belong to him. A warrant has been issued by the Johnson County District Court for McIntosh.

Overland Park Detectives first encountered Mr. McIntosh in late 2008 on a shoplifting charge. Investigators determined Mr. McIntosh was involved in an Identity Theft crime and possession of property that did not belong to him.

Anyone with information on Mr. McIntosh and his location is asked to call the TIPS HOTLINE at 816-474-TIPS.

Former beauty queen from Hawaii accused of living double life

Susan Shaw, aka Miss Hawaii International 1992, lives in Hawaii with her husband and two kids. But police say she also led a second life in southern California, where she allegedly had a boyfriend and stole peoples' IDs so she could get bogus credit cards and live the high life.

The Supremes side with illegal immigrants on ID theft ruling

From The AP: A unanimous Supreme Court said today that undocumented workers who use phony IDs can’t be considered identity thieves without proof they knew they were stealing real people’s Social Security and other numbers.

Hat Tip: Many thanks, Mikeybackwards!

NJ gang leader stole ID of mentally ill veteran

And, thus, was able to steal $30K in disability checks from the man.

Was this technically ID theft?

Interesting case from the Supreme Court, which is hearing the case of Ignacio Flores Figueroa, a Mexican citizen who used a fake name and Social to work at an Illinois steel plant.

After a few years, though, he wanted to work under his own name. So he bought new papers and a new Social -- only this Social wasn't a fake. It actually belonged to someone. Eventually, he got caught, and part of his punishment included a two-year mandatory stint for identity theft.

His attorney, however, doesn't think that's fair. Snip:

At the Supreme Court on Wednesday, Figueroa's lawyer Kevin Russell will argue that the identity theft statute and its mandatory penalty was wrongly applied to Figueroa because the statute requires knowing use of someone else's identity documents, and Figueroa didn't know the Social Security number he was using belonged to a real person.

"It really comes down to a question of whether you can commit identity theft if you don't know that the person whose identity you're mistakenly using even exists," Russell says.

Hat Tip: Many thanks, Rhonda!

Nebraska grandma, 86, billed $1K for phone sex calls

The bills were in the name of her late husband, but he never had a card, she said. The working theory is that his ID was stolen at some point.

10 years for KCK man in ID fraud scheme

From Mark Wiebe:

William A. Morris, 33, pleaded guilty in September to one count of aggravated identity theft and one count of wire fraud, a release today from Acting U.S. Attorney Marietta Parker said.

In his plea, Morris said he gathered personal financial information from customers who called a Dish Network satellite service business he established in Purcell, Okla. Morris then used the information to fraudulently obtain goods and services from various businesses in the Kansas City area, the release said.

New credit card theft technology costs Vegas $1.5 million

Cashiers were in on the scheme to use a "wedge" that scans credit card numbers. The information is then used to make counterfeit cards.

Twenty-three were arrested in a scheme that compromised 1,000 credit cards and cost Las Vegas businesses $1.5 million.

A Eurasian organized crime task force (created in response to "the influx and influence and activity of Eurasian-based gang-type criminals") broke the case.

|Meredith Rodriguez

$11K reward in Cara Roberts homicide

From Crime Stoppers: This afternoon a Mr. Chris Lang, Chief Executive Officer of the Cass Regional Medical Center, donated $10,000 on behalf of the hospital to the reward fund for information leading to an arrest in the November 5, 2008 murder of Cara Roberts on the 800 block of North Patton in Harrisonville, Missouri.  The victim’s family has a close association with the medical center.  This makes a total possible reward of up to $11,000 in cash.

The case was initially investigated by the Metro Squad.  A sketch of a person of interest was released during the early investigation.    Anyone with information on this case is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 816-474-TIPS.  All calls are taken anonymously.

The Cass County Democrat-Missourian, meanwhile, has an update about the investigation, which is going into its fourth week. Authorities hope lab results will give them a big break.

If you're going to steal somebody's identity ...

... why not steal somebody who can do you some good? Case in point: St. Louis court officials are in a tizzy because a circuit judge's signature was forged on a document explaining away a felon's forgery charges as, well, nothing more than identity theft. (Though THAT document itself was a case of identity theft --- boxes with boxes.)

Court officials are freaking out because they're starting to realize how easy it is to fake a signature, thanks to modern computers. This guy was caught only because a couple of folks took the time to call and double-check some facts.

Florida man swears he didn't order penis pump

He says somebody used his private info over the Internet to buy the $143.45 device. And he has a police report to prove it!

Kenyans, KC man admit to stealing old folks' IDs

From The Star:

Men from Kansas City and Kenya pleaded guilty this week to a conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and send some of the money to Africa.

Moses Ndubai, Karingithi Gotonga Kamau, both Kenyan citizens, and Michael Anderson of Kansas City, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and wire fraud charges in federal court.

According to prosecutors, they and others stole the identities of elderly nursing home patients and filed fraudulent tax returns. Ndubai, Kamau and Anderson then opened bank accounts into which the refunds were deposited.

Conspirators then transferred funds to accounts in Kenya, according to court records.

Mom steals daughter's ID, becomes cheerleader, police say

Story is from Wisconsin. The real daughter was living with Grandma in another state, so Mom, age 33, allegedly posed as her. Snip:

According to the complaint, Brown wanted to get her high school degree and become a cheerleader because she didn't have a childhood and wanted to regain a part of her life that she'd missed.

You and Michael Jackson, sister.

Woman stole $20K to pay for breast lift, police say

And a tummy tuck, too!

Police should go after "real criminals," says illegal immigrant accused of $787K in identity theft

The suspect -- who allegedly bought two houses and two cars with the purloined ID -- describes himself as a simple family man.

Hat Tip: Many thanks, eephus!

KC man gets almost 20 years for ID theft

Snip:

He and three others were convicted at trial in October of conspiring to steal identities and make purchases. Strother also used stolen identity information to get more than $2 million in mortgages on homes in Lee’s Summit and Kansas City.

MO sheriff's wife accused of ID theft

Story is from Barton County, where the sheriff's wife is accused of using the Socials of her mother-in-law and a Golden City couple to get an American Express card, which later ran up $14K in debt. In the probable cause, the sheriff's wife denies the report -- she says she got confused when filling out the form, but never stole anyone's Social.

Hat Tip: Many thanks to the Mighty FanDanGo!

Stripper stole disabled woman's ID, bought foreign cars, police say

A BMW and a Maserati, to be specific, worth a grand total of $113K. She's still on the loose, police say. Story is from Texas.

Missouri AG sues to shut down Web site over private info

Jay Nixon says that identity thieves are able to find Social Security numbers from a site called Public Data, which would allow the crooks to get phony credit cards.

The site says its taking down the info -- and note that it's a little funny for the state to be suing, since it was the Department of Revenue that released the information. (DOR says the info was only supposed to be available to banks, credit agencies and related businesses.)

Hat Tip: Many thanks, JUNGLE JIM!

KC firefighter accused of identity theft

From the U.S. Attorney's press release:

John F. Wood, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a firefighter with the Kansas City, Mo., Fire Department was indicted by a federal grand jury today for identity theft and credit card fraud.

Mark M. Braden, 38, of Kansas City, was charged in a two-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City.

Today’s indictment alleges that Braden unlawfully used the name and Social Security number of another person on Feb. 28, 2007, in order to commit credit card fraud. Braden allegedly used an American Express card issued in that victim’s name to receive items valued at $1,000 or more betwe! en Feb. 28 and April 15, 2007.

The indictment also contains a forfeiture allegation, which would require Braden to forfeit to the government any property used to commit the alleged offenses, including a desktop computer.

Wichita police: Identity thieves target NFL players

Wichita police say identity thieves posed as Dexter Coakley, a former St. Louis Rams, and retired Dallas Cowboys player Gary Sayre to buy motorcycles at dealerships near Wichita.