Identity Theft

This week, on Midnight Sun: Kooper's Tavern was sued by a Baltimore County man who claims the bar, and two other area bars, exposed him to identity theft. Consumer rights experts were dubious about the claim. Bourbon Street moved its college nights to Baltimore Soundstage, where some of the venue's old hands are now working. Incidentally, we reviewed Soundstage itself. Chris Brown performed in Baltimore; we reviewed the show and put together a photo gallery of the concert.

An obscure provision of a federal law created to prevent identity theft has come under the spotlight in Baltimore, where a man has sued three area bars for violating the law's intent. In three lawsuits filed last week in Baltimore's U.S. District Court, Ronald L. Bradley of Baltimore County contends that three bars - Kooper's Tavern in Fells Point, Poncabird Pub in East Baltimore and the Middle River bar and restaurant Catches - printed the expiration date of his credit card in sales receipts.

A Baltimore County man sued Fells Point's Kooper's Tavern last week over a federal law designed to prevent identity theft. Ronald L. Bradley, of Baltimore County, accuses the Fells Point bar with violating the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act in a lawsuit filed in Baltimore's U.S. District Court last Wednesday, September 21. One of the provisions of the law, which came into effect in 2008, requires businesses to abstain from...

An Edgewood woman who prosecutors say was the ringleader of a bank fraud and identity theft scheme was sentenced in federal court last week to six years in prison for her role in the conspiracy. According to the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office, U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar sentenced Latesha Brown, 33, on Sept. 7 to six years in prison, followed by seven years of supervised release, for bank fraud conspiracy and aggravated identity theft in connection with a scheme to obtain fraudulent loans from credit unions where Brown worked.

A 39-year-old Baltimore woman was sentenced to more than two years in federal prison Friday for bank fraud and identity theft, the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office announced. Phyllis Wilson used her positions working at four assisted living facilities in the Baltimore area to steal identifying information from residents and colleagues — including check books and social security numbers — then bought cell phones, clothes and technology services with it, according to prosecutors.

A routine traffic stop by a police officer in Georgia led authorities in Maryland to a suspected identity theft scheme in which state unemployment benefits totaling $170,000 were falsely obtained in the names of dozens of unwitting people. None of the people for whom the benefits were paid out was unemployed, and none knew that someone had applied for the money using their identities, according to federal law enforcement officials assigned to a financial crime task force. The Maryland U.S. attorney's office announced indictments Thursday charging Vivek Jain, 25, of Gaithersburg and Amiee Arora, 31, of Washington with aggravated identity theft and mail fraud.

A federal grand jury has indicted four people, including a former employee of the University of Maryland Medical Center, in what prosecutors said was a scheme to steal patients' identities. The 17-count indictment was unsealed Thursday after the arrests of Kenneth Elliott McDowell, 47; Wendy Hinton, 21; and William White, 54, all of Baltimore. Devin Jarmal Smith, also known as Sean Jones, 20, also of Baltimore, is still being sought. "The defendants are charged with preying upon seriously ill hospital patients and their families by using their personal information to access their credit accounts and even to open new credit accounts using their identities," Rod J. Rosenstein, Maryland's U.S. attorney, said in a statement.

When John Robert Skelton got caught last summer stealing the identity of a deceased aide to a United States senator, federal authorities called the crime "despicable," and a spokesman for U.S. Customs said the agency was pleased to end the charade. But the suspect's lawyer calls his client's actions more tragic than criminal. He needed medical care to treat HIV that only doctors in America could provide, the attorney said, adding that Skelton did not use his false name to profit from the victim in any way. Instead of pleading guilty to aggravated identity theft, which would have required the judge to imprison the 41-year-old for a minimum two years, prosecutors allowed him to admit to the lesser crime of making a false claim of American citizenship.

The impoverished face enough challenges without the government adding identity theft to their woes. But officials at Maryland's Department of Human Resources are dealing with just that prospect after recently learning that an employee caused nearly 3,000 names with corresponding Social Security numbers to be placed on an Internet site. That the DHR even learned that such a breach of protocol took place was only due to the efforts of the nonprofit Liberty Coalition, which works to maintain online privacy.

The Maryland CASH Campaign on Saturday launched a slate of free and low-cost financial management classes that organizers say will help people navigate complicated subjects — from budgeting to borrowing to buying a house. Shoppers at Security Square Mall were encouraged to register for classes at the new CASH Academy, including credit and debt management, budgeting, savings, taxes and investing. The campaign, whose name stands for "Creating Assets, Savings and Hope," is paying for the short courses.