ID thief almost ties innocent woman to crimes
From the Everett Herald

Jean Nelson will never forget June 2002. It was her birthday month and her husband proposed to her. Another reason she won't forget: It was the month in which she became a victim of identity theft.

A childhood friend who knew her well used Nelson's birth date and other personal information to escape a theft charge in King County. Nelson was dragged through a Burien municipal court system insisting on her innocence, but even her own attorney accused her of lying, she said last week. "Every day since the first incident in 2002 not a day goes by that I'm not worried that somebody's going to use my identity again," she said.

Someone did. More than once. Nelson hopes a string of credit problems and brushes with the law will finally end with the sentencing of the old friend, Susan Michele Tate, 44, of Lake Stevens. Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Thomas Wynne on Tuesday sentenced Tate to prison for a little more than two years.

The case is just one of about 150 serious identity theft and fraud cases now being prosecuted by a small unit started up late last year by the Snohomish County prosecutor's office. The unit has identified nearly 670 people whose personal information wound up in the hands of identity thieves who have been convicted this year, lead deputy Halley Hupp said. Many more victims are associated with cases that have yet to be prosecuted.

The theft of Nelson's identity was a little unusual because it was personal, Hupp said. Tate twice used Nelson's identity to get out of trouble with the law: the theft case and a 2006 citation by Marysville police for not wearing a seat belt. Nelson received a $47 ticket in the mail from Marysville. A Marysville police officer figured out what was going on and arrested Tate. The ticket was erased.

In 2004, somebody opened an account was using Nelson's name and Social Security number. She was notified by Boeing Employees' Credit Union about it. Nelson also had bogus checks issued in her name in 2006, and she spent hours clearing her name. She and her husband are still banned from writing checks at Home Depot, she said.

Hupp's unit consists of himself, deputy prosecutor John Juhl and assistant Cheri Wantola. It started in November with the idea of tackling the most complex identity theft and fraud cases, and charging the thieves with somewhat near the number of crimes they actually committed. They tried to keep the number of cases they were juggling to about 100. But it hasn't worked out that way. The crime -- a less risky way for drug addicts to support their habit -- is mushrooming.

The prosecutors try to charge defendants with enough counts to get the most severe penalty possible, and to properly represent all the victims, Hupp said. For example, Edward Tom Brockavich Jr., 31, of Federal Way pleaded guilty to 23 counts of identity theft and was sentenced last week to more than two years in prison. On Wednesday, Nathan Dean May, 26, of Snohomish pleaded guilty to 16 identity theft charges. "We are only handling the more sophisticated cases, the ones with a large number of victims, those associated with a large financial loss and defendants with a history of identity theft," Hupp said.

Less complex identity theft cases are being prosecuted by other prosecutors in his office, he said. The unit has become a resource for police, helping to schedule tasks among agencies when several jurisdictions are involved in a case, and even training detectives to be alert for certain things. Hupp and Juhl frequently hold meetings with investigators from several police agencies to divvy up the work on complicated cases stretching across municipal boundaries.

"There's a lot of paperwork, and it's nice to have prosecutors who specialize in (identity theft), Everett police Sgt. Mark Thaker said.

The cases often are hard for the cops to get a full grasp of what's going on. The prosecutors follow the money and financial documents, Thaker said. "When they get a case, they know what to look for," Thaker said. "It's nice to have a unit in the prosecutor's office where we can gather to plan an investigation on a subject or group of subjects. We're understanding more clearly what the prosecutors need to make their cases."

The unit has closed nearly 140 cases so far this year. That includes a conviction of 89 individuals. Many had multiple cases, and multiple investigations by police. The result of the preparation and police interaction has been "well prepared cases that we can prosecute," Hupp said.

The cases are so well prepared that Hupp said he has not had to reduce charges to coax guilty pleas. When offenders plead guilty, they nearly always admit to the original charges, Hupp said. The unit also tries to notify people that personal information stolen from the mail or from some other source was found in a crook's hands. That's time consuming, and the unit doesn't have the personnel to notify everybody, Hupp said.

Victim Nelson is happy that Hupp's unit paid attention to Tate's activities. "I called Hupp when I was told that he may take an interest in my case. For the first time in over five years I finally found someone in the justice system that was willing to take notice," Nelson said. "It scares me the different way (Tate) could have ruined my life," she added. "I could have been the person going to prison now."