Boxes Full Of Personal Information Found In The Trash

Wednesday, August 15th 2007, 5:00 pm

By: News On 6

Private information, free for the taking is discovered in the trash. Bixby police say a company was willing to let anyone, including identity thieves, have access to thousands of social security numbers, bank records and more. Utica Title and Escrow went out of business and put about 200 boxes of personal papers in a storage unit. The storage company says they stopped paying their monthly rent, so the storage place had no choice but to get rid of everything. News On 6 crime reporter Lori Fullbright reports they had no idea the boxes contained a mother load of private information, including social security numbers, bank accounts and pay stubs.

An anonymous tip led Bixby police to a stack of boxes in and a trash dumpster Tuesday night. Officers couldn't believe the gold mine of personal information they found. Authorities say an identity thief could've turned the information into millions.

"It was amazing. I didn't understand how big it was until I got to the scene and saw for myself, looked through the boxes and saw how much stuff was in there," said Bixby Police Chief James Kite.

The boxes belonged to Utica Title and Escrow and had been stored at a storage unit in Bixby. When Utica quit paying rent the storage company went through the legal process to be able to sell everything left behind, and whatever doesn't sell is trashed. No one wanted to buy boxes of paper so the boxes were thrown out.

"Send our people in, start cleaning it out, don't even open the boxes, just start throwing them away," said Darrell Jenkins, storage unit owner.

Once police told Darrell what was in the boxes he sent his people back out to his dumpster to pack it all into a trailer and take it to a warehouse, even though it's not his responsibility.

"Their responsibility to keep those records in tact and secure, and they didn't do that,â€ said Jenkins. â€œThey knew they didn't do that because they didn't pay their rent and knew they wouldn't sit there forever."

Jenkins say he'll have his crews check boxes before they pitch them in the future. Police say no one will be charged with a crime, but businesses who handle sensitive documents must protect them.

"Times have changed. The ability to make counterfeit drivers licenses, checks, even credit cards is so easy. This kind of information is very useful for someone trying to do that," Kite said.

The News On 6 called the number for Utica Title and Escrow and it was disconnected.

Jenkins was willing to pay to have all the documents shredded, even though it's not really his responsibility. All that shredding could have cost up to $1,000, however, News On 6 crime reporter Lori Fullbright contacted the owner of Shredders Inc. in West Tulsa; they agreed to shred all the papers for free.

If you have sensitive documents that need shredding visit Shredders Incorporatedâ€™s website, www.shreddersinc.net.

Watch the video: Police Discover Thousands Of Personal Documents In The Trash

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