Man’s Identity Theft Dilema Comes to Close after 35 Years
July 31, 2009 – 3:29 pm
Tom Lesh has been trying to wake from a nightmare for the past 35 years. That’s how long that Clark Mower has been using Tom’s identity. Tom said he has known about Mower use of his good name ever since he started using it in the 1970’s and has devoted “thousands of hours” writing letters to government officials and creditors to clear up the fraud. Nearly all of those letters have accomplished nothing but wrist pain.
“At one point I thought about getting a hit man, but I worried that with my luck, they’d get the wrong Tom Lesh,” Lesh joked. After hearing the amount of aggravation that Lesh has put up with it’s hard to imagine that thought not seriously crossing his mind. Mower’s theft of Lesh’s name has caused the IRS to contact Lesh regarding $10,000 in back taxes, getting a denial for a car loan in 1984 due to bad credit and Mower declared him bankrupt after charging up $139,000 in his name.
Thankfully Lesh has never had to pay back these frauds except in the amount of precious time devoted to clearing up most of these misunderstandings. By placing fraud alerts on his credit he’s successfully stopped any further fraud to his name.
The true bright point to this story is that after three and a half decades Tom Lesh has finally received a resolution. Mower was finally arrested by an agent of the Social Security Administration’s Office. “I can’t believe this has finally come to a head after all these years — it’s like I’ve been released from prison,” Tom Lesh. “I was just talking to Special Agent Matt Lavelle and I want to kiss him.”
Tags: 35 years, arrested, decades, good name, identity theft, tom lesh, victim
