In Indiana, Fort Wayne Community School, employees have been put on identity theft alert. On September 17 Fort Wayne police were searching the home of Steven T. Brown, looking for evidence that he may be connected to several counterfeiting cases. During their search, police found three counterfeit payroll checks from Manchester College in his pocket, and an insurance document with personal information of thousand of FWCS employees.
The document included names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth for employees who received term life insurance benefits through their school jobs in 2004. The document was a quarterly report generated by the insurance broker who provided the benefits in 2004. The school no longer uses that broker, but say their decision to use another broker had nothing to do with the data breach.
Most of the affected employees were notified of the data breach last week. School officials and the Fort Wayne police advised them to monitor their credit and be alert to any indications that someone else might be fraudulently using their personal information. Employees already aware they’ve become identity theft victims since 2004 were advised to contact the police. Police want to investigate those cases further to determine whether there is a connection to this arrest.
Unfortunately, many of the people listed in the insurance document have retired or moved on to other cities or jobs. School officials say they are working hard to locate those former employees.
Stevens was arrested September 12 on a charge of fraudulently using someone else’s credit card. That arrest led to the search warrant for Stevens’ home that yielded the additional evidence and charges.
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