I AM 1 OF THE VICTIMS...

University of Central Missouri police sergeant and wife arrested in identity theft scheme
By MARÁ ROSE WILLIAMS
The Kansas City Star


A University of Central Missouri police sergeant and his wife have been arrested in an identity theft involving the stolen Social Security numbers for 7,000 students and alumni.

James and Amanda Drake have been charged with fraud, forgery, illegal credit card use and filing a false police report.

The FBI and university police are continuing their investigation.

“There may be other arrests connected with the investigation forthcoming,” said Bob Ahring, chief of the university’s Department of Public Safety.

“It appears that about a dozen individuals may have had their personal information used for fraudulent purposes,” said Jeff Murphy, spokesman for the school.

During an unrelated investigation of Amanda Drake, 30, on warrants involving passing bad checks from Johnson and Henry counties, police recovered stolen computer printouts with the names, addresses, telephone and Social Security numbers for students from the summers of 2005 and 2006.

James Drake, 45, was arrested by Warrensburg police on June 19 and charged with fraud, use of a credit device and filing a false police report. His wife, who was not employed at the university, is charged with forgery.

The printouts, produced by the Student Affairs Office, were stolen from the university campus, but officials declined to say which office. Neither Drake has been charged with the theft of the printouts, Ahring said.

University officials said there did not appear to be any breach of the university computer system. The information in the printouts is only given to certain offices and “used for a variety of reasons,” Murphy said.

He said the 12 victims were contacted by police. Neither police nor the university could say how much money was involved in the fraud. Murphy said the university contacted all other people listed on the printout by mail and e-mail.

For more information, the university has provided a 24-hour toll-free phone number, 866-223-1695, and Web site, www.ucmo.edu/identityprotection.

And this week UCM offered enrollment in Experian Triple Alert, a 12-month program on identity theft protection, and credit monitoring. UCM will pay the cost of enrollment for anyone who could be affected by the recent theft.

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