Victim Arrested for ID Thief’s Misdeeds
You probably already know that identity theft can cause legal issues, not to mention financial loss.
Now, one Indiana resident has found himself not only a victim of an ID breach…but of the consequences of another crime the thief allegedly committed.
In a horror story of ID theft reaching new levels, Jeff Goldsmith of Elkhart was arrested in his own home Feb. 25 for abusing “his” girlfriend’s six-year-old child badly enough to put the boy in the hospital.
It took many repetitions of his innocence for the shocked Goldsmith to convince the police to look into the matter further. Because in reality, the person who committed the heinous crime was a thief who had stolen and was currently using Goldsmith’s name and Social Security number.
In fact, Goldsmith doesn’t have a six-year-old son…and hasn’t even visited the city where the boy lives since 2007, the ID theft victim has insisted.
He Did All the Right Things
Goldsmith was doubly dismayed at the gaffe because he thought he was protected from identity theft. He had been monitoring his credit reports and says he had ID theft insurance.
But it was may not have been right type or enough coverage (reports don’t give specifics of Goldsmith’s anti-ID theft plan), because in February, Goldsmith found himself being taken from his home to the police station despite protestations to his innocence.
Goldsmith is described as a model citizen and has told reporters that he’s led a very average, on-the-level life. He has no “girlfriend”—he has been married for 20 years—and hasn’t visited Ft. Wayne, the site of the alleged abuse, in more than two years, Goldsmith said. (At that time, he was visiting a zoo with is grandson.) He has never met the boy described as an abuse victim or his mother.
“I even register my dog. I don’t speed or anything,” Goldsmith is reported to have said upon his mistaken arrest. “I can’t figure out why they’d be coming to arrest me, for God’s sake.”
Warning Signs
Perhaps the worst part of the entire debacle is that Goldsmith had some warning signs that his identity might be in jeopardy.
Prior to the arrest, he had received two bills that clearly weren’t his—a phone bill and an insurance bill for a vehicle he didn’t own—and had cleared the issue up with the companies. He then took out identity theft insurance, reports say.
Yet the criminal snuck away with Goldsmith’s good name, then allegedly proceeded to abuse the son of his girlfriend, someone who, like the criminal and the youngster, Goldsmith had never met in his life.
The mother of the actual victim, upon viewing Goldsmith, said that he definitely isn’t the man who is said to have beaten her son. The real suspect remains unidentitfied.
Worse Than Standard ID Theft
Identity theft is nothing new, but the mistreatment of a child resulting in hospitalization constitutes a felony. Such a threat to innocent victims of ID theft makes the misdeed more ominous than ever.
Law officials connected with the case agreed that this particular type of mistaken identity is a frightening sign of what identity theft can lead to. “Who wants to put an innocent person in jail?” Gabe Furnish, the officer in charge of Goldsmith’s case, commented.
Particularly with warning signs such as the clear signals Goldsmith had received, it is critical to find a reputable credit monitoring and anti-ID theft company which monitors a variety of activities and gives immediate alerts.
Be sure to look over prospective companies carefully and to compare to discover which is right for you and offers the best possible protection. Don’t be the next victim—make sure you’re protected from criminals who don’t stop at just theft.
