It was just about this time of year several years ago. Mom, my brother, and I lived in Brandon and life was going along smoothly. Then one day Mom got a call from a credit card company, asking about a charge. There seemed to be some sort of discrepancy on her bill, and the company’s fraud and security department wanted to discuss the issue in detail. The issue, at first, wasn’t a big deal. Sure, there was some anger when Mom thought somebody had used her credit card number to buy something. But, it was nothing that couldn’t be handled. But, she decided to request a copy of her credit report anyway. We had heard of identity theft, but that seemed to be a problem in bigger cities away from Mississippi.

The credit report was not a welcome site. There were several items that didn’t match. A single mother for years, Mom raised two sons, became a Registered Nurse while keeping a 4.0 grade point average, and worked at least two — sometimes three — jobs. She kept everything: Receipts, bills, stubs... literally everything. She is the most organized person I know. Thankfully so.

Listing only the first several letters of a business, the first item that raised attention was the name of a jewelry store in Jackson, just west of Brandon.

I can remember clearly Mom saying, “Someone is having a great Christmas thanks to my credit.”

It turns out the purchase wasn’t something from the local jeweler. The name was also the beginning of a Ford dealership in South Mississippi. And, to make matters worse, the purchase wasn’t for one vehicle, but two.

I’ve seen Mom go through a divorce, surgeries, and even breast cancer. But, I never saw her so distressed as when she found out somebody had stolen her identity. A stolen identity doesn’t mean just credit, but literally the identity of the entire person. Mom’s good name was destroyed.

No one could tell her what to do. The police didn’t know; the state didn’t know. Finally, she ran across someone who explained that the problem was so new then that there wasn’t much in place to combat identity theft. A Brandon police investigator who decided to help put her in touch with a United States Postal Inspector, who in turn helped her take the steps to begin the recovery process.

The more Mom dug into the situation, the worse it got. We learned a Ford Taurus and a Ford truck had each been purchased, along with computers, clothing, groceries, and other items. Plus, there were several trips to casinos in Tunica with plenty of cash advances on credit cards through the ATMs.

Here’s how the process worked, and how the person was able to get by with the theft for so long: the woman actually had a fake driver’s license with Mom’s information and the woman’s photograph. With that, she was able to set up bank accounts and obtain credit. (Remember, this is before the Patriot Act following 9-11 that requires more information now). She would apply for credit and receive the cards in the mail. She would use one card for cash advances to make payments on the others to either request extended credit lines or simply keep the red flags away. Once the card got maxed, she would quit using it and move to another.

Mom was in battle mode then. With the advice of the Postal Inspector, she filed fraud alerts with the credit bureaus. She froze her accounts and filed fraud alerts with all of them, including the legitimate ones. She took off work a few days and traveled across Mississippi to each town listed on the credit report where illegal activity had occurred to file charges. Since many towns she went to had arrest warrants for the woman using my mother’s name because of bad checks, she was required to take a letter with her from the federal official so police wouldn’t arrest Mom, thinking her to be the same person. She even went into a store in Southeast Mississippi near Laurel and saw her name listed on a handwritten note under the heading “ Do not accept checks from these people.”

Besides obtaining credit cards and writing bad checks, the woman was teaching fourth-grade at a South Mississippi elementary school. Remember, Mom is a Registered Nurse, not a teacher. But, the thief had actually obtained fake teaching credentials and held a full-time job at the public school in my mother’s name.

The woman was Elsie May Barton. Following is a report from the Education Intelligence Agency, a web site warning educators to protect themselves against fraud:

“Mississippi fourth-grade teacher Elsie May Barton will serve nine years for fraud and identity theft, but she still may have performed a public service. While living in Louisiana, Barton somehow obtained the personnel records of new teacher Wanda Smith (my mother’s name, but she was never a teacher) and used Smith’s identity to obtain a Mississippi teaching license, working in at least three separate school systems before being apprehended in Brookhaven, Miss. in May. The Jackson Clarion-Ledger, citing postal authorities, reported that Barton had even attained national teacher certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards under one of her aliases.”

Most of our family now follows very strict rules when dealing with our identity now. Our checks don’t have any information except for the name and address — no driver’s license number, no phone number, no date of birth, no employer. Our driver’s license numbers have been changed to the generic numbers that begin with 800 instead of social security numbers — something everyone in Mississippi can do at any time for a small fee. Credit reports are checked often, and many of us have alerts filed to make obtaining credit more difficult.

A small price to pay and a small amount of hassle when thinking of the alternative.