Identity Theft Roundup : Another Large-Scale Case, and Tales of Two Vultures

First in the “Large-Scale Heist” category, 185,000 patients of the San Jose Medical Group are not sleeping as soundly as they were a couple of weeks ago:

The administrative offices of the San Jose Medical Group in California were burglarized on March 28, 2005, the company has reported. Two computers were stolen that contained patients’ names, addresses, confidential medical information and Social Security numbers, potentially exposing as many as 185,000 individuals to identity theft.

Local police are investigating the incident. San Jose Medical Group has alerted each of the three major credit bureaus and informed them of the theft….(and) is advising patients to place a fraud alert on their credit files by contacting one of the three major credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion Corp.

Assuming all patients are city residents, the 185,000 records stolen represent roughly 20% of San Jose’s population of about 900,000.

Next, in the “Can you top this?” category, stealing a dead guy’s identity (but not just any dead guy):

28-year-old Michael Jorgensen of Tooele was arrested by Woods Cross (UT) police… charged with using a dead man’s identity to rent a car.

The identity he’s charged with stealing… is Kimball Jencks… the 84-year old Murray man who shot his terminally ill wife…(and) then himself inside Cottonwood Hospital last September.

I’m not big on superstition, but you have to be pushing your luck a little when you steal the identity of a guy who did a murder/suicide.

Finally, in the “Yup, I Can Top That” category, a Shrevport, LA woman can’t even wait until the dead body is cold:

Brenda Sue Moore, a Shreveport hospital employee, is behind bars, charged with stealing the identity of a dead man. Police say the victim had only died a few hours before the first of several purchases was made on his debit card.

The victim, 81-year old Jerome Holland and his wife, Hattie, both died in a car accident on February eleventh.

He was airlifted to L-S-U medical center where Moore worked as a clerk in the emergency room.

Detectives say most of the purchases were made online, but some were in person.

Moore is said to have spent about four-thousand dollars.

Police say the case is still being investigated and it’s possible Moore bought even more items by stealing the identity of more than just one patient.

So, because in most cases you don’t have to hand your card any more, a much younger “Brenda” can make purchases IN PERSON as “Jerome,” a dead old man, and not get caught immediately. How convenient.