Identity Theft - Slidell Memorial Hospital

A taped interview featuring my mom is scheduled to be shown on NBC’s Today Show on Wednesday. The show is doing a segment on identity theft and they heard of the recent case in Slidell about a mother and son team that stole the identities of the dying or recently deceased. My father, who died in July of last year, was one of their victims.

Below is the Times-Picayune article...

Identity theft targeted the dead
Three arrested; more than 100 names stolen
Saturday, March 24, 2007
By Paul Rioux
St. Tammany bureau

In a macabre identity theft scam, a Slidell hospital employee sent her son cell-phone text messages with the personal information of dying patients so he could submit fraudulent credit card applications in their names as soon as they died, authorities said.

The mother-son team is accused of stealing the identities of more than 100 dead people and obtaining at least 17 fraudulent credit cards, which they used to buy thousands of dollars worth of merchandise, sheriff's deputies said.

"This is about as low as you can stoop for a dollar," Sheriff Jack Strain said. "Imagine going through all of the emotions of losing a loved one, and then having to deal with calls from a collection agency because someone stole their identity after they died."

Robert Ezell, 41, and his mother, Rebecca Stockdale, both of Slidell, were booked with 124 counts of identity theft and scores of other charges. Ezell's wife, Charlotte Cooper-Ezell, 49, who allegedly helped fill out some of the fraudulent applications, was booked with 84 counts of identity theft.

The trio were arrested March 7, but authorities said they did not publicize the case until the sheer magnitude of the fraud became apparent in recent days.

"Even after they were arrested, more and more credit cards kept popping up in their mailboxes," Strain said.

Cards sent to empty houses

Stockdale, an emergency room clerk at Slidell Memorial Hospital, allegedly sent her son text messages with the names, birth dates and Social Security numbers of hospital patients who had recently died or were near death, Strain said.

He said Ezell used the information to submit credit card applications in the names of the deceased, using addresses of unoccupied homes that had been damaged by Hurricane Katrina near his house at 2218 Bluebird St. in the Ozone Woods subdivision, authorities said.

"He would check the mailboxes regularly to see if any credit cards had arrived," Strain said.

He said Ezell also scoured newspaper obituaries and called in the names to Stockdale, who searched the hospital's database for personal information on the deceased.

"If the person had died at the hospital or had ever been a patient there in the past, she would look up their Social Security numbers and other personal information," Strain said.

Sam Caruso Jr., a Slidell Memorial spokesman, said hospital officials are mortified by the allegations against Stockdale, who had been employed by the hospital for 12 years.

"The staff is very shocked and upset by what happened," he said. "This is an extremely serious breach of patient confidentiality and a breach of all the training we give our employees on how to handle sensitive information."

He said Stockdale has been fired and administrators are combing through hospital records to help investigators identify possible victims.

The sheriff praised Slidell Memorial for its cooperation.

"The hospital is a victim in this, too," he said. "They had what they believed was an ethical employee who took advantage of the trust they had placed in her."

Rival tipped off police

The investigation began Feb. 22 when one of Ezell's business rivals notified sheriff's deputies that someone had applied for a credit card using his name, said Strain, who declined to specify the type of business.

Detectives traced the application to Ezell and gathered evidence linking him to scores of other fraudulent applications, Strain said.

When he was arrested, Ezell allegedly had a list of 70 dead people with their birth dates and Social Security numbers.

He initially told investigators he researched information about dead people on the Internet as a hobby, Strain said. But when presented with the evidence against him, Ezell allegedly confessed that he planned to use the information to apply for credit cards, police said.

Detectives said Ezell used the cards to make at least 23 purchases at local businesses, but they declined to say what he bought.

Strain said it appears the scam was "short-lived but extremely busy."

"Whenever one of their credit card applications was accepted, they sent applications with the same name to every credit card company and bank they could think of," he said.

Detectives said it appears the suspects targeted the recently deceased because the deaths would not be included yet in financial records that credit card companies check before issuing cards.

In addition to the identity theft charges, Robert Ezell and Stockdale, who lives at 1124 Pine St., were booked with 17 counts of obtaining a credit card by fraud, 23 counts of making purchases with a fraudulent credit card and 29 counts of stealing business records.

They are being held in the parish jail in Covington in lieu of $250,000 bond each. Charlotte Cooper-Ezell is being held in lieu of $150,000 bond.

In 2004, sheriff's deputies arrested Robert Ezell for allegedly stealing a credit card from a relative of his girlfriend's to buy flowers, but the charges were dismissed, said Strain, who didn't know why the case was dropped.

Strain said more charges are expected in the identity theft case. Residents who think a relative might have been victimized can call Sheriff's Office Detective Corey Crowe at (985) 646-4119.

. . . . . . .

Paul Rioux can be reached at [email protected] or (985) 645-2852.

 

Here is a link to the video...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18495531/

Actually part of the story that the Today segment didn't touch on was the fact that my mom gave the detectives the name and address of the scumbag son several months before the March article. My mom was able to get one of the addresses used and I Googled it and found a "Robert Ezell", the aforementioned scumbag. I did drive by the address and was damn close to knocking on the trailer door (it's in Katrina damaged area) but not knowing what was waiting on the other side caused me to leave it in the hands of the authorities. Well, we were told it was a "cold case" and not to expect an arrest...then several months later we read the article in the paper!

Please don't take my rant above as a slam of law enforcement. I support you guys (& gals) 100% and post Katrina the local guys are way shorthanded. Thanks for doing your part to make get evil like the Ezells off our streets.

 

Closure...

link: http://www.thesttammanynews.com/articles/2007/08/08/news/news09.txt

text:
St. Tammany News

A Slidell mother and son pleaded guilty recently after attempting to steal the identities of at least three dead people.

Roberta Stockdale, 56, and her son, Robert Ezell, 41, pleaded guilty in state district court in Covington to stealing a business record, attempted identity theft and attempted credit card fraud.

Both were sentenced to five years' probation and two months of community service.

Stockdale worked in the Slidell Memorial Hospital emergency room for 12 years and, as an admissions clerk, had access to patients' personal records, Ronald Gracianette, spokesman for the district attorney's office said.

She sent the information, via text message, to Ezell, who used it in credit card applications, he said.

This is the second conviction for Stockdale and Ezell for similar offenses.

The two pleaded guilty in June to stealing a business record, identity theft and credit card fraud and received five years' probation and two months of community service. The two sentences will run concurrently, Gracianette said.

Investigators for the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's office uncovered at least three attempts, at least one of them successful, by Stockdale and Ezell to use dead patients' personal information on credit card applications, Gracianette said, but he did not know how many patients' identities Stockdale and Ezell used or tried to use in their plot.

Sam Caruso Jr., a spokesman for Slidell Memorial Hospital, said very few hospital employees had access to personal information. Since Stockdale and Ezell's first arrest in February, which brought national attention, the hospital has implemented frequent, random audits to try to catch unusual behavior with personal information.

The hospital also alerted the families of dead patients to warn them about possible identity theft, he said.

 

Funny you mentioned that; I did the math too. I won't slam her for being a teenage parent, though 15 yrs old is a bit different than if she was 18 or 19. However, she obviously wins no "mother of the year" awards considering the crimes committed by this family duo.

I hope wherever they do their community service is aware of the type of crimes they did and will be kept far away from personal and business info.

 

and currency trading!

 

I'm reviving this thread as a reminder to all how painful and prevalent ID theft/personal attacks can be.

I recently had a refresher of my own when a couple of weeks ago someone used my debit card info to order $1100 worth of hard drives from newegg.com and shipped them to New Jersey. I've filed a report with Sheriff's office and rec'd a "provisional" credit from my bank for the charges but no closure as of yet.

On Saturday I learned that my 69 yr old aunt was the victim of a purse snatching in a Wal-Mart parking lot. She is currently in a hospital with a broken shoulder requiring surgery and a broken pelvis.

It is a damn shame that we have to watch our backs even under the best of circumstances and yet the evil among us still succeed.

 

Doctor told her up to 8 months for the pelvis. I understand the shoulder surgery was to quicken the shoulder's recovery so she can eventually use a walker while the pelvis heals.

Oh how I would love to use the perps as target practice.