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Michigan AG Cox Continues War on Senior Identity
Theft
Arrests man for stealing ID of blind nursing home
resident
June 23, 2005 - Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox
is continuing his war on elder fraud. He announced today that he has
charged a Burton, Mich., man with six felonies for stealing the identity
of a blind Flushing nursing home resident and using that information to
open a credit card in the resident's name. The arrest is a result of
Cox's "It's MI Identity" campaign, launched in March 2004 to detect and
root out identity theft of seniors living in adult residential care
facilities around Michigan.
"We launched 'It's MI Identity' in the Flint area
with the goal of preventing identity theft, particularly among our most
vulnerable citizens," said Cox. "This arrest is the direct result of
interviews and credit checks conducted by my office. I encourage not
only seniors, but all Michigan residents, to check their credit reports
to prevent and detect identity theft."
Tiso Verdell Deer, 25, of Burton was taken into
custody by Attorney General investigators in Flint on Thursday morning.
He was arraigned before Chief Judge Ramona Roberts in Flint's 68
District Court on one count of Possession of Fraudulent Transaction
Device, and five counts of Illegal Use of a Financial Transaction
Device, both of which are four-year felonies. Deer was released on a
$7,500 personal recognizance bond and will be back in court June 28 at
8:30 a.m. for a pretrial conference.
The charges arise from Deer's stealing the identity
of the victim, a resident of Heartland Health Care Center-Fostrian in
Flushing. Deer, who was not employed at the facility and whose current
employment status is unknown, then opened a credit card in the victim's
name in 2002 and charged more than $500 over four days to the card. The
identity theft was discovered by Cox's Health Care Fraud Division
investigators when they conducted a facility-wide credit check for
residents in June of 2004.
In November 2003, Cox announced the "It's MI
Identity" campaign, using $300,000 of federal money. The program's
purposes are three fold: one, to raise awareness about how senior
citizens can prevent identity theft; two, to form a model program to
assist state and local law enforcement in combating identity theft in
the senior population; and three, to determine the extent of
victimization in resident care facilities. Implemented by Cox's Health
Care Fraud Division, the three-prong approach includes public outreach,
law enforcement training and offering credit reports at facilities to
determine potential victims.
To date, more than 6,000 residents have been
invited to participate in a credit report day and credit report days
have been held in 76 facilities statewide. In addition, more than
250,000 brochures have been distributed, and 1,237 police officers and
prosecutors from 77 counties and 236 agencies have been trained in ID
theft investigation and prosecution.
A criminal charge is merely an accusation and a
defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
To report Medicaid provider fraud or identity
theft/patient abuse in a Michigan resident care facility, call the
Attorney General's 24-hour Hotline at 800 24- ABUSE (800-242-2873);
e-mail
hcf@michigan.gov; or visit the Attorney General's Web site at
http://www.michigan.gov/ag .
Since March 1, Michigan residents can order free
copies of their annual credit report by mail from: Annual Credit Report
Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281; by telephone
at 1-877-322-8228; or online at
http://www.annualcreditreport.com .
For a detailed Consumer Alert about free credit
reports, for more information on preventing identity theft, or to report
suspicious activity on your credit report, contact the Michigan Attorney
General's Consumer Protection Division online at
http://www.michigan.gov/ag, toll-free at 1-877-765-8388, or write
to: Consumer Protection Division, P.O. Box 30213- 7713, Lansing, MI
48909.
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