May 2, 2007

NEWS: ID Theft Victim Mistakenly Booked

Michele Gosnell admits the fact that she made a foolish mistake – but she probably wasn’t expecting it to land her in jail! Gosnell, who has had no prior contact with the law, was arrested, booked, and strip-searched last week on a warrant for writing bad checks… except, she had no knowledge of the events!

The problem started when Gosnell pulled up to a gas station pump in Tacoma, Washington, where she lives. She had to run inside the station to pre-pay, but made the careless mistake of leaving the car doors unlocked. She returned to her vehicle literally two minutes later to find the doors open and her purse stolen. But she didn’t realize exactly how far the extent of her troubles would reach, until she was pulled over for speeding and arrested for having supposedly written bad checks. It turns out the individual(s) who nabbed Gosnell’s purse used her identity to open several accounts and write bad checks. The confusion over Gosnell’s true identity was eventually settled to the satisfaction of police, but not until she had already spent a full night behind bars.

Unfortunately, however, Gosnell is still living with the repercussions of her momentary mistake. Her credit has yet to be restored, and she is still out the money swindled by the identity thief or thieves, she says.


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