WOMAN VICTIM OF ID THEFT LANCASTER RESIDENT LOSES INHERITANCE FROM FATHER.

Byline: GIDEON RUBIN

Staff Writer

LANCASTER -- Melinda Turner immediately knew something wasn't right when Starbucks denied her credit when she was there on Halloween with her 4-year-old niece.

She didn't realize, however, that her financial life was already in a freefall.

Turner, 28, of Lancaster, lost nearly all the money she inherited from her father to identity theft, a crime law enforcement officials say is the fastest growing form of criminal activity.

The information-age crime has become a billion-dollar industry, netting thieves $56.6 billion in 2006, according to the nonprofit Identity Theft Resource Center.

Christina Hale, a 23-year-old Palmdale woman who has admitted to bankrupting Turner, was sentenced Wednesday to eight years in state prison, having pleaded guilty to multiple felony counts of fraud.

Turner now faces monumental hurdles as she attempts to reclaim her good financial standing.

"I was like, this isn't possible," Turner said of her initial reaction to learning her credit card was maxxed out. "I was in shock."

Hale's guilty pleas came in the face of 18 felony and misdemeanor counts that could have landed her behind bars for 17 years, said California Highway Patrol investigator Jim Daggon, who led the investigation.

Daggon said the legal system hasn't caught up with the times, noting that long-term sentences for such crimes are unusual because the offenders aren't considered violent.

"It's a devastating crime," he said. "It'll take a long time for (Turner) to clear this up."

Identity thieves have shown themselves to be remarkably resourceful in obtaining their victims' personal information. Among their most common methods are digging through trash, or "Dumpster diving," and "phishing," the practice of impersonating trusted organizations on the Internet.

Turner believes her personal information was given to Hale by her former fiance, who she suspects stole her purse containing credit cards, her driver's license and Social Security card. He was not charged in the identity-theft case.

The fiance is serving a three-plus-year sentence for illegal weapons possession, Turner said.

Hale was found to be in possession of Turner's personal identification at the time of her arrest.

Hale used Turner's identification to buy two vehicles worth approximately $25,000, open credit card accounts, and write checks for thousands of dollars against Turner's savings account, Daggon said.

Turner claims her bank, Washington Mutual, was negligent in releasing funds to Hale, who she said doesn't even closely resemble the photo on Turner's stolen driver's license.

Washington Mutual spokesman Gary Kishner said the bank considers Turner a victim, but he said Turner shares some responsibility for not reporting stolen funds in a timely manner, and for providing her fiance with her PIN code, which bank officials say Hale used to release funds from her account.

Kishner said Washington Mutual advanced Turner $1,200 to pay her rent before its investigation was complete.

"We're very sympathetic to what she's going through," Kishner said. "We understand that she's a victim, and we did try to help her any way we could, but she needs to take responsibility for giving out her PIN."

Turner said the incident is especially disconcerting because the inheritance was her last physical tie to her father's memory.

Turner was 11 when her father, Travis Turner, a 36-year-old crane operator, was killed on a job site. She has a portrait of her father tattooed on her arm.

She said the stress has exacerbated an existing medical condition. Turner suffers from lupus, and she must pay medical bills out of her pocket.

"If it was just lottery money, this wouldn't be that big of a deal, but my dad's dead, and every time I talk about this it's like I'm losing my dad all over again," she said.

gideon.rubin(at)dailynews.com

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