Judge Halts ID Theft Investigation of Colorado tax preparer – LifeLock

April 14, 2009 – 3:31 pm

In late November I wrote a story about immigration identity theft and the effect it’s having. I mentioned one case out of Colorado that involved the tax preparer, Amalia Cerrillo, the owner of Amalia’s Translation and Tax Services. Well it seems that a judge has ordered a halt to the investigation that involved more than 1000 suspected illegal immigrants. The judge found that the search at the beginning of the investigation was unlawful and it violated privacy rights.

According to judge James H. Hiatt the Weld County Sheriff’s Office had lack of probable cause and the police had no right to seize the records. The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. Judge Hiatt said, “There was little public gain through this search, compared to the private harm to Ms. Cerrillo, her clients, her clients’ privacy.”

I don’t understand that quote at all. What about all the people that had their identities stolen and used by the immigrants to file taxes? Isn’t that doing harm to the public? 1000 cases of identity theft is no small deal. I understand why the investigation had to be stopped. If they didn’t have probable cause to search the records and the building then the investigation should have stopped. I just can’t understand how they can say that 1000 immigrants using other people’s social security numbers isn’t doing any harm.

I guess this just proves that even if they find the people that stole your identity they can still get caught up in all the red tape of trying to get a conviction. I guess the rule of thumb is to not allow the identity theft in the first place.

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