Woman Who Bought House Using Stranger's Name Gets 5 Years for ID Theft

Washington Post ^ | November 10, 2007 | Tom Jackman

[3AngelaD]

The woman who took a stranger's driver's license and used it to buy a $419,000 townhouse in Fairfax County last year was sentenced to five years in prison yesterday. The scheme unraveled for Elizabeth Cabrera-Rivera, 40, not when she obtained two mortgages for the house in the stranger's name, or when she deeded the house to herself. It was when she refinanced her second mortgage, and the bank sent an overpayment check to the stranger, that Cabrera-Rivera was caught. She was arrested at the BB and T bank in Arlington County that figured out her scheme.

The victim of the identity theft, Jose Lara of Winchester, told an Arlington Circuit Court judge yesterday that the fraud had devastated him financially. When he went to refinance the house he lives in with his wife and three children, he was turned down. When he sought a business loan for his trucking company, he was refused and had to sell the company at a $70,000 loss. His one line of credit was reduced from $9,500 to $1,000, Lara said...

Cabrera-Rivera and Lara went to the same chiropractor, and in February 2006 she either found or stole Lara's wallet.... Salvado said Cabrera-Rivera, who is married and has a 5-year-old son, made the mortgage payments. But Eastman said Cabrera-Rivera's effort to refinance came so soon after the initial mortgages that she may never have paid anything...Eastman said Cabrera-Rivera and her husband were laborers who did not earn enough money to buy a $419,000 townhouse, but a mortgage broker got them the loan in Lara's name. Eastman said Cabrera-Rivera also opened a joint bank account in her and Lara's name, causing Lara further credit problems....

[3AngelaD]

And her brother has fled to Bolivia. God knows what he was up to. Interesting the Post omits information on anyone's immigration status.

[squarebarb]

I have heard that there are really wealthy illegal immigrants here. I think it was from a caller on Rush. They apparently make very large purchases, own expensive homes, etc. and form a network among themselves, and underground economy as it were.

I guess this one got caught.

[ConservativeMind]

I’m happy just knowing of the Post’s downward financial spiral.

[Coldwater Creek]

At the cancer clinic that my husband went to, a woman was getting treatment with a stolen identity, until getting caught.

The sad thing is that the clinic would have treated her for free, and now is getting that treatment in jail.

[Truth29]

The punishment doesn’t begin to fit the crime. She should be made to pay for the rest of her life for what she has done to the innocent victims.

[the invisib1e hand]

if it involves a latino surname, it’s got to be bad news, eh? WAPO is dishing it out, and FR is eating from its hands.

[Sybeck1]

ID theft should be a federal crime.

[3AngelaD]

What is that supposed to mean? I am Latina. I have an Hispanic surname.I speak Spanish. And the Washington Post left more questions unanswered than it answered.

[#1CTYankee]

"And her brother has fled to Bolivia. God knows what he was up to. Interesting the Post omits information on anyone's immigration status."

I remember when she was arrested, can't recall if she was illegal but her brother was and managed to make it out of the country before she got caught.

[3AngelaD]

If someone steals your identity and uses your identification, neither the IRS or Social Security is allowed to tell you.

[advance_copy]

Cabrera-Rivera and her husband were laborers who did not earn enough money to buy a $419,000 townhouse

They're just here commiting fraud that no Americans will commit.

[Southerngl]

My boss found out his daughter (just turned 18) had her ID stolen at age 5. Turns out this daughter owes $250,000 for purchases of homes, cars and credit cards since she was five years old. Illegal immigrant caught, but fled before court date.

[catpuppy]

This cannot be true. Everyone knows that a driver’s license can’t possibly be used to falsify one’s identity. Just ask New York Governor Eliot Spitzer. </sarc>

[NonValueAdded]

Nail that mortgage broker too!

[rineaux]

but a mortgage broker got them the loan in Lara’s name.

What happened to the mortgage broker who may have committed a crime as well. He knew the folks were not Jose Lara. Jail time too?

[3AngelaD]

Gee, they never named the mortgage broker, did they?

[Ole Okie]

If someone steals your identity and uses your identification, neither the IRS or Social Security is allowed to tell you.

Say what?

If the law says that, then the law is a ass.

[AndyJackson]

they're just here commiting fraud that no Americans will commit.

These immigrants are such amateurs. The professionals do it $100B at a time selling worthless paper.

[AndyJackson]

hen the law is a ass.

Check on your congressional leadership recently?

[Joann37]

Lou Dobbs had a woman on a few months ago, and her SS# was stolen by about 20 illegals. She stated that the govt. would do NOTHING whatsoever to help her with her plight.