Posted on 01/06/2006 9:38:00 AM PST by John Jorsett
The numbers could be up for area thieves looking for a free ride to reside in Indiana.
A new computer-based system that checks the validity of information given when obtaining a driver’s license is starting to identify people using stolen Social Security numbers, said Indiana State Police Sellersburg Post Public Information Officer Sgt. Jerry Goodin. The system went into operation last fall and has resulted in a number of arrests of people who are using invalid Social Security numbers.
“It’s becoming a problem,” Goodin said. “We are starting to detect a number of people who are using Social Security numbers of persons who are deceased, or whose identity has been stolen.”
Goodin cited a recent case from Charlestown in which an illegal alien was arrested. Stealing a Social Security number is a Class D felony, Goodin said.
Master Trooper John Cleveland arrested the woman Dec. 20 when she turned up as using a stolen Social Security number while updating the address on her driver’s license at the Sellersburg license branch.
The woman, Linda Sanches, 33, moved to Charlestown from Mexico City in 2001, and shortly thereafter obtained the Social Security number from a Mexican national who told her the number was “clean.”
“She has been gainfully employed the entire time she has been here,” Cleveland said.
She obtained a personal ID card from the license branch in 2002 and returned in 2004 to obtain a driver’s license.
The new software program was phased in this past fall, and when the woman returned to update her driver’s license information, the system identified her right away.
“We’re seeing a pretty good rash of these cases since they started using the new software,” Cleveland said.
Goodin said the normal procedure is for an illegal immigrant to move into an area and contact someone who can supply identity information so that they can get a job and a driver’s license.
“In the past, it was hard to catch them. But now with the increased security measures that are in place with Homeland Security, they’re starting to show up.”
Goodin said a recent traffic stop in Scott County involved a Hispanic male who was actually a United States Citizen, but who was using a stolen Social Security number.
“Officers ran the man’s date of birth and Social Security number and came back with 10 people using that information,” he said.
Goodin and Cleveland said the state needs to put up signs at license branches to warn people that if they try to use a stolen identity they will be arrested.
Clark County Prosecuting Attorney Steve Stewart said it would be difficult to say how many arrests have been made because of the new program since they would be classified as identity-theft cases and could not readily be broken out from other cases.
Goodin says the identity-theft issue is a serious one for ISP in the Sellersburg District — where there is a significant Latino population — because so many Hispanics do not have a valid U.S. driver’s license.
“You can stop a Hispanic and check a driver’s license, but they usually have a Mexican driver’s license,” he said. “They generally say they are visiting the country, and there’s no way to prove otherwise.”
State law requires an Indiana driver’s license if an individual is going to reside in the state longer than 31 days.
“Even that is hard to establish,” Goodin said. “Unless you have stopped the same person more than 31 days apart, there’s no telling how long they have been in the country.”
Goodin says it will take a cooperative effort between local, state and federal agencies to resolve the problem, but he adds, “The Homeland Security computer checks are starting to show some promise. Right now we’re reactive. We need to become proactive if we are ever going to resolve this problem.”
Did you know
• There were about 45,000 illegal aliens living in Indiana as of February 2003, more than three times the 1996 population, according to the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
On the Web
• For more in identity theft, visit the Indiana Attorney General’s Web site at: http://www.in.gov/attorneygeneral/consumer/prevention/identity_theft.html
HELLO OFFICER MCFLY! Care to guess how long thats been going on?
"Goodin and Cleveland said the state needs to put up signs at license branches to warn people that if they try to use a stolen identity they will be arrested."
Why?
we don't want to make vincent fox or mexico mad.
they send more people when they get mad.
(heavy sarcasm)
ping
I can figure out how to do it. Just ask "Show me your visa" and if they don't have one, deport them.
ping
too simple....
law enforcement isn't going to protect America...
LOL...to tell the truth, which you did BTW, means
you are a trouble maker to law enforcement...so
Don't be surprised when the black choppers start
circling overhead...
(heavy, heavy sarcasm)
"She has been gainfully illegally employed the entire time she has been here," Cleveland said.
isn't having forged documents, against the law and punishable with jail time?
guess not, if one is illegally in this nation....
"Goodin and Cleveland said the state needs to put up signs at license branches to warn people that if they try to use a stolen identity they will be arrested."
???
Wouldn't that defeat the purpose? Apparently they don't really want to catch these people.
uh oh, you too are a candidate for overhead black choppers.
(heavy sarcasm)
now don't go figuring out what you don't need to be figuring out, okay?
The Feds'll put a stop to this.
It's unfair to illegal aliens to prevent them from using your SNN.
Why? Beat me to it!;^)
soon to be the next dimocrap voting stronghold
shhh .. they've been after me for some time now ... (running and hiding under the bed)
Protect our borders and coastlines from all foreign invaders!
Support our Minutemen Patriots!
Be Ever Vigilant ~ Bump!
No, it's been a problem. You're just now catching on to it.
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