Victim of ID theft ends up in jail

A shocking case of identity theft. Criminals don't just steal your identity to ruin your credit; they also use it to commit crimes. <br><br>News on 6 crime reporter Lori Fullbright found such a case

Monday, February 16th 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

A shocking case of identity theft. Criminals don't just steal your identity to ruin your credit; they also use it to commit crimes.

News on 6 crime reporter Lori Fullbright found such a case in Green Country.

When someone commits a crime in your name, you are the one arrested, thrown in jail and charged. It's a frightening thing that happened to a woman named Lana Hill and two months later, her nightmare is still not over.

Lana Hill is a divorced mother of three who moved back to Green Country to be closer to family and live a simpler life. Her life has been anything but simple since she got pulled over in her neighborhood for speeding on December 19th. "He says you're wanted in Missouri, when's the last time you were there. I said, what's this about, I thought he was joking, just teasing."

But the officer wasn't teasing and Lana was handcuffed in front of her daughter and neighbors and taken to jail on a felony warrant. She kept thinking they'd realize it was a mistake, but they didn't. She was told to take off her clothes, shower with delouser and locked up; she was told she'd be there for two weeks, over Christmas, but her family paid $2,000 to get her out the next day.

She's never felt more demeaned or powerless. "When I was in jail, my attorney came to visit and they close loud doors behind you and they said, your attorney sure wants to get you out of here and I said, I don't belong here. And, they said, sure, everybody here is innocent, nobody belongs in here."

The charges say someone using Lana's name, date of birth and social security number checked into a Super 8 Motel in Mount Vernon, Missouri in December of 2002 and trashed the room and stole everything of value. Lana still thought everything would be okay once she went before the Missouri judge, but no. "Once you're in the system, you are the defendant. No one wants to hear you say this isn't me, it's a mix-up. You have no choice but, to act like the criminal."

Lana now has a Missouri attorney and has already spent $6,000 on this horrible case of mistaken identity. Lana had lost her driver's license and gotten a duplicate, she's assuming the person committed this crime, was using her old license.

Her advice for others is when you lose your license, don't just get a duplicate, but ask for a new number and that should help. Lana's willing to hand over her picture, her fingerprints, take a lie detector, whatever it takes to prove she's not the person.

She's never even been to Mount Vernon and was five months pregnant at the time the crime happened. She goes back to court next week.