Candida Gutierrez, Stephen Echols, Marcus Calvillo aren’t household names, but their experiences with identity theft were epic. Their identity theft stories provide lessons to study and heed. These abuses continued for decades and unfortunately, similar thefts continue to impact other consumers today.
Candida Gutierrez
After a 12-year struggle, elementary school teacher Candida Gutierrez finally faced her identity thief in federal court. Benita Cardona-Gonzalez, was an undocumented immigrant from Mexico who’d exploited her identity to find work, buy a house, obtain medical care, and provide for a growing family. Cardona-Gonzales was in court to receive an 18-month sentence for her crimes to be followed by automatic deportation.
Gutierrez learned of her identity theft when the bank rejected her own mortgage application. Twelve years of identity theft required lots of government documents – Cardona-Gonzalez obtained a Social Security card, a Texas birth certificate and even had a driver’s license in Gutierrez’ name and used her moniker on her own kids’ birth certificates.
“It began one day in 1999 when he found several police officers with guns drawn standing on his front lawn. He was taken into custody and spent 5 and ½ months in jail before being released,” a Military.com article on his experiences with identity theft said.
When the arrest occurred, Echols was a college student. Charges included stalking and making terrorist threats, so bail was set at $250,000—an amount he couldn’t raise. Finally, after five months in jail, Echols was released and given court documents that indicated he wasn’t the man wanted for this crime.
At the time, Echols thought a case of mistaken identity triggered his arrest. The concept of identity theft never entered his mind, until a detective requested that he stop by the station to look at some photos. One image jumped out at Echols; it was a photo of a bully from Echols’ childhood who had misused Echols’ name, even obtaining a driver’s license using it.
The military veteran went on to secure a job at Los Angeles International Airport which required a security clearance. Clearance holders must complete extensive background checks frequently, but Echols had a letter from a judge indicating his innocence in two police cases involving his bully’s crimes.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t know that one discussion had been incorrectly recorded as an arrest, or he would have reported it to his employer. Accused of lying about an arrest, Echols lost the security clearance he needed to work. It took over three years to clear up the government’s mistake.
Marcus Calvillo
Someone stole Marcus Calvillo’s identity when he was around 15. Over the years, the thief used his ID to write bad checks and rack up dozens of parking tickets that were never paid. The con artist was also convicted of child sex abuse—under Calvillo’s name.
Those actions cost Calvillo his driver’s license, countless work opportunities and several jobs. His ID thief also secured jobs using the stolen identity, and Calvillo received IRS bills for back taxes on jobs he’d never held. After two decades, the damage was extensive. Thankfully, the US Attorney’s Office assisted in correcting court records and convictions improperly linked to his name.
These cases are just a few of the extreme identity theft cases reported to government agencies or the media. Each yields a vital lesson in self-protection. These three victims understand the value of guarding their Personally Identifiable Information (PII) the right way. But the time to throw up walls around your data is before a major theft, not after.
Submitted by David Jordan, a Legal Shield Associate. Legal Shield offers identity theft protection and restoration services through IDShield (a product of Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. d/b/a LegalShield (“LegalShield”)). For complete terms, coverage, and conditions, visit www.protectandrestoreidentity.com.
This is meant to provide general information and is not intended to provide legal advice, render an opinion, or provide any specific recommendations.