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
OOPS..sorry for the ping ping...
Thanks..don't you just love the Indy Star spin on this?
I quit reading the Star years ago, I just glance at the website from time to time. It's a typical liberal paper now, used to be more conservative.
In the last telephone campaign the Star had to get readers to buy subscriptions I told the girl on the phone that I don't read liberal newspapers. She said, then how will you get your news?...we are the biggest news source in Indiana, blah blah blah. I said there are better ways...hehehe.
Just taking the Social Security numbers Americans won't take.
When I called to complain, the managing editor told me that they were working under deadline and that is why they didn't include the correct decision. I told him that I had been watching LIVE on Fox and I knew when the decision was made, and if they didn't have a reporter watching the TV they were incompetent. PLUS they didn't have time to get the story right but had time to insert all the fancy pictures and charts.
I hate what they have become. My grandad was a pressman for them for 50 years. I wrote for the Teen Star when I was in high school. My brother worked there as an electrician during his apprenticeship, and my sister worked in their graphics department for several years back in the 70's. It pained me to cancel; I actually cried about it. I don't regret doing so, though. They have become a partisan hack paper, and the fact that they still employ that communist Dan Carpenter is proof that they are not the paper the Pulliams owned.
Thank God for the Internet and certain national news channels or we would have no choice but to be misinformed little sheeple.
Eventually someone will give the Star some real competition. When that day comes, I hope they all get handed their biased rumps along with their friends at the NYT and CNN.
Only because of this jerk we elected as Governor. Daniels has just about dismantled the State Police.
I'm unaware of any steps Gov. Daniels has taken to lessen the effectiveness of the State Police. Would like to be enlightened on this subject. Could you please fill me in?
Obviously not Microsoft software. It works.
Wrong place to discuss details. Guess you will have to pull over a State Trooper and ask.
Thank you for your reply.
Very interested in your statement. If that is what is happening would very much like to know about it. Will research this further.
Again thanks.
We're better than good, man. We're much more free than the residents of the states that surround us.
Compare our gun rights with Illinois, Michgan, Ohio, and Kentucky and see for yourself.
/ PROUD, TWANG-TALKIN' HOOSIER
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