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Court Documents Detail How Identities Were Stolen

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Dec 13, 2006 8:54 am US/Mountain

Court Documents Detail How Identities Were Stolen

Slideshow: See Images From Immigration Raid In Greeley

by Jodi Brooks
GREELEY, Colo. (CBS4) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 1: Federal agents raided the Swift & Co. meatpacking plant in Greeley Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2006 as part of a large identity theft investigation involving suspected illegal immigrants.
CBS

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numSlides of totalImages

Employers Struggle To Screen For Illegal Workers
(12/13/2006)
Relatives Of Swift Workers Left With Questions
(12/13/2006)
Loved Ones Express Concern About Workers In Raid
(12/13/2006)
Immigration Agents Raid Swift Plants Across U.S.
(12/12/2006)
Alleged Illegal Immigrants Arrested Near Buckley
(9/20/2006)
Republicans At Odds With Business Over Immigration
(7/8/2006)
CBS4 Examines Employers Of Illegal Immigrants
(7/20/2006)
Owners Worry About Enforcing Immigration Law
(3/10/2006)
Japan Halts Beef Imports From Greeley Swift Plant
(11/8/2006)
Hong Kong Suspends Beef From Kansas Company
(4/7/2006)
U.S. Beef Ban Lifted In Japan After Mad Cow Scare
(1/6/2006)

Investigators suspected that an organized fraud ring was enabling illegal immigrants working at the Swift & Co. meatpacking plant in Greeley and at five other company facilities across the United States to get jobs. Authorities said hundreds of U.S. citizens may have had their identities stolen.

Court documents revealed that investigators believed each Swift worker taken into custody was most likely using the identity of someone else to gain lawful employment.

The 56 page court document reported that several victims said they lost their wallet or had it stolen. One victim allegedly worked as a U.S. Border Patrol Agent in Nogales, Ariz.

Another suspected victim from Thornton, Colo. told authorities he lost his Social Security card and birth certificate in 2003 while moving.

"They've been using the Social Security numbers under these assumed identities of individuals of U.S. citizens and obviously it's a large scale identity theft scheme," said Barbara Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

One victim reported to investigators that her name and Social Security number were used for employment, college and to receive unemployment benefits.

Having their identities stolen has affected the victims' ability to receive disability benefits, apply for loans and many heard from the Internal Revenue Service which said they failed to claim earnings for tax purposes.

ICE agents said they planned to serve several arrest warrants for identity theft.

Additional Resources

In 2006, Colorado was ranked as the fifth worst state when it comes to identity theft. For a list of resources if you think you think you might be a victim, check out the CBS4 story What To Do If You're An Identity Theft Victim.

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