Thread: Teen ID Theft Victims By Illegals

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Identity theft opens door to woes
South Florida teens among latest victims

Trials By David Ovalle, The Miami Herald

9:50 a.m. EDT, May 9, 2010

Tia Nicole Holzworth is 18, plans to attend community college and works an after-school job managing rides at the Fun Spot amusement park in Orlando.

She is not a dishwasher, paver installer or construction worker.

Yet her Social Security number was used by a score of undocumented workers doing those blue-collar jobs during the past two years in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, authorities say.

Workers who obtain jobs with other people's Social Security numbers can wreak havoc on a victim's taxes and credit history. The identity thieves can also file false worker's compensation claims using the swiped number.

A recent statewide sweep offered a peek into the shadowy world of false document sales, which authorities say is growing as law officers crack down on companies that hire undocumented workers.

The arrests took place as Florida became the state with the highest per capita rate of reported identity theft complaints, totaling 22,664 in 2009, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

Nearly a dozen fraud cases involving Holzworth and a teenage girl in Chicago are working their way through South Florida courts after last month's crackdown. Possibly hundreds more workers may have gotten jobs with the young victims' Social Security numbers, officers say.

``This could seriously ruin my credit,'' Holzworth complained. ``I'm trying to go to college. Eventually, I'm going to want my own house.''

Detectives can't say for sure who is behind the sale of the fake Social Security cards, and more importantly, how the ringleaders acquired the girls' numbers.

The investigation began in 2007, when detectives discovered that more than 100 people were using the same Social Security number as a fugitive they were tracking. The number actually belonged to the Chicago teen. Ultimately, 27 workers across Florida were convicted in the case.

This year, Paul Sennett, an investigator with the insurance fraud division of Florida's Department of Financial Services, ran the Chicago teen's Social Security number again and found still more people using it -- plus a variation off by two digits, which belonged to Holzworth in Orlando.

In March, investigators charged 11 more defendants, most in South Florida.

While fraudulent Social Security numbers are often made up, specialists believe they are often gleaned from the Internet, shady healthcare clinics, unscrupulous motor vehicle department employees and even documents that are trashed or supposed to be shredded.

``There is a vast array of ways numbers get compromised,'' said Phoenix police Detective Craig Walker, one of 12 detectives who investigate rampant document fraud in the border-state city.

Phoenix, Los Angeles and other cities with large immigrant populations have well-known main drags where illegal document sales flourish.

South Florida has no comparable spots to target, said Maj. Geoffrey R. Branch, who heads the Department of Financial Services' Bureau of Workers' Compensation Fraud.

Suspects have told Branch's detectives that they usually pay about $200 per card, but offer only vague descriptions of sellers. Typically, they say the purchase was made through a friend of a friend.

Ubilio Montejo, who is facing trial in Miami-Dade, admitted that he used a Social Security card given to him several years ago by a friend, to get a construction job with RTI Restoration Technology in Palm Beach County.

The friend -- whom he knew as ``Juan Carlos'' -- has since left Florida, he claimed.

``I didn't know anything,'' Montejo, 27, of Guatemala, told The Miami Herald. ``I didn't know who the number belonged to.''

Another Miami-Dade defendant, Mario V. Hernandez, 42, of Nicaragua, who was working as a dishwasher at Villagio Restaurant in Coral Gables, pleaded no contest April 13 to a third-degree felony count of using false information to obtain employment.

Prosecutor Ankur Sevak had sought a conviction and two years of probation. But Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Antonio Marin allowed Hernandez to go free with credit for one day served in jail, plus a ``withhold of adjudication,'' meaning Hernandez is not a convicted felon.

The punishment did not sit well with Holzworth.

``That makes me kind of mad,'' she said. ``It's my Social Security number -- it's not something that should be messed with. They need to take it more seriously.''

Hernandez could not be reached for comment. He does not live at an address listed on his arrest report.

In Broward County, several defendants are in custody pending trial because they are undocumented migrants.

Carmen Gonzalez, 24, who was working as a baby sitter, is being held in an immigration detention center. Her lawyer, Alex Arrezea, says Gonzalez's construction worker husband is struggling to work and care for their 3-year-old daughter.

Arrezea hopes to reach a plea agreement in the case, then see Gonzalez quickly deported to Nicaragua -- with her daughter in tow.

``With this lady, yeah, the [arrest] is heavy handed,'' Arrezea said. ``They treat these people with these kinds of cases almost like they've committed a life felony.''

Two other Broward defendants who were released have skipped town, prosecutors say.

The crackdowns are part of a ramped-up effort by the state Department of Financial Services' insurance fraud division. Using a novel strategy, they're turning to a provision of state workers' compensation law that prohibits using false information to apply for a job, even if a suspect never files an injury claim.

The statute is easier to prosecute than Florida's identity theft law, which requires that the suspect actually knew the Social Security number belonged to a real person. Violation of the law is a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

Law enforcement nationwide has cracked down on illegal workers in recent years, often staging high-profile roundups. That has prompted employers to better ensure they document their workers.

In Florida, businesses are not required to verify the authenticity of a Social Security number, but some states mandate that companies check prospective employees using a voluntary federal computer system.

While most of those arrested have been illegal immigrants, state detectives are not treating the cases as an ``immigration issue,'' Branch said.

``That's not in our purview,'' he said. ``We look at it as an insurance fraud issue, and while some people may be sympathetic to the plight of the workers, they are creating innocent victims.''

The government says it removes any earnings discovered to have been falsely credited toward Social Security benefits.

In extreme fraud cases, a victim can be granted a new number, according to the Social Security Administration.

Because Holzworth doesn't yet have a credit card or student loans, her financial hassles are likely years away.

But the compromised number, she believes, prompted a money-services clerk to recently resist cashing one of her paychecks.

``I had to answer a million questions,'' Holzworth said.

A friend of mine who is on Medicaid had her SSN stolen by the cleaning crew at her doctor's office. With her income, she couldn't afford to hire an attorney and so has spent many, many hours trying to clear her name. While most insurance companies have moved away from using SSNs as identification, Medicaid and Medicare have not, leaving these patients most at risk of having their i.d. stolen.