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Woman Gets Prison Over Irving TX Teachers Id Theft
State District Judge Mike Snipes sentenced Sharon Denise Seeley,
40, for her role in the identity theft of numerous current and
former Irving schoolteachers.
Seeley pleaded guilty, and
the judge gave her two years apiece for two counts of
credit card abuse and 30 years for fraudulent use or possession
of identifying information. She will serve those
sentences concurrently and could be up for parole in about eight
years.
Seeley told police that the personal
information came from a binder that was thrown into a school
district dumpster that held the social security numbers of up to
3,200 current and former employees. School district
officials said about 103 victims have contacted them.
Three teachers spoke in court today about how the theft impacted
their lives. Many shared that they suffered health-related
problems. They also detailed thousands of dollars in charges in
their names that wrecked their credit. Seeley had their home
addresses, and they believe that she and others even waited at
their residences to intercept deliveries of items they had
ordered. Irving police originally arrested her in January 2009
at Irving Mall after she tried making purchases at Sears in the
name of teacher Shellie Pearce.
In court, she apologized,
saying that she was addicted to methamphetamine and turned to
crime to pay for her habit and support her daughter.
Many
teachers are still upset with the school district, which is in
the process of compensating them for damages.
“It’s
affected my health, my family time, my energy and my trust of
strangers,” said teacher Dawn Bizzell. “Those of us who are
victims have been given a life sentence. We’re having to pay the
price forever.”
Source: SecurShred.
March 2010.
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Medical files found in trash
PORT ST. LUCIE, FL — Police on Tuesday turned up medical files
in a trash bin near University Medical Clinics that contained
information that could be used to commit identity theft, a
police spokesman said Wednesday.
Police determined the
files, which contained information including patient names,
Social Security numbers, phone numbers and addresses, had been
discarded from University Medical Clinics in the 1800 block of
Southeast Port St. Lucie Boulevard, said Officer Tom Nichols,
police spokesman.
A man identified by Nichols as a high
ranking official with the company indicated an employee had
thrown the files way.
“A garbage bag full of medical
records is not an oversight,” Nichols said.
Dr. Samuel
Sadow, CEO of University Medical Clinics, said Wednesday he
didn’t think any patient information had been compromised.
“We’re very concerned about it and we’re doing our own
internal investigation,” Sadow said.
Nichols said the
records were returned to the office.
Nichols said the
files initially were found by a woman acting on an anonymous tip
that they’d been discarded. That woman then notified police of
her discovery.
Source: WPTV.com.
January 2010.
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