Friday, June 1, 2007

Disabled Identity Theft Victim Says Benefits Were Threatened

   A disabled Lawrenceburg woman discovered she had become the victim of identity theft last week after receiving a letter from the Social Security Administration, explaining that her benefits were about to be discontinued.

   The fifty-year-old victim reported the incident to Lawrence County Sheriff’s Deputies on Tuesday. She said she had received the letter through the mail, indicating her Social Security benefits would be stopped “because she had worked for Hermann Holt Kamp Greenhouses in 2006.” The victim told officers that she had never worked at the business, nor did she know where it was located.

   When a deputy spoke with officials at the local Social Security Administration office, he was informed that the administration had received a “hit” on the victim’s social security number. It had been used, the official reported, by an employee who worked at the company.

   Deputies report they were able to locate the company via the internet and spoke with a representative. She stated that the social security number had, in fact, been submitted by a short-term employee. That employee, she said, had listed her name as “Perla Condero.” The woman was employed through the company between June 11 and August 23 of last year.

   The matter remains under investigation at the present time through the department’s Criminal Investigation Division.

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