PARK CITY — "Shane" spent two days in jail for a crime committed in his name.
In November 2000, he was stopped by a police officer for driving without a headlight. The next thing he knew, he was being booked into the Davis County Jail on a forgery warrant. Yes, it was his name. No, it wasn't him. He was a victim of identity theft.
"I didn't know who this guy was or what's going on," Shane told prosecutors and law enforcement officers gathered Monday at a conference on identity theft at The Canyons resort. "I knew it wasn't me."
The arrest got worked out, but Shane's problems only became worse. Two years ago, he was fired from a job for lying about two misdemeanors committed by the identity thief. For the last six years, Shane has been trying to clear his name and his record. He suspects a former co-worker stole his information from a personnel file.
Shane did not want his last name used. The police have not caught the ID thief and he's afraid of recrimination. Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff used Shane as an example of who can be helped by a new Web site created for ID theft victims.
The Identity Theft Reporting Information System (IRIS) is "ID theft central" as Shurtleff put it Monday.
"(This is) the first system in the country that will allow a victim of identity theft to directly go to the Internet and file an affidavit that will be sent to law enforcement in the local jurisdiction," he said. "Double click — that's it."
Shurtleff said identity theft victims can spend an average of 600 hours and $1,400 trying to recover from the crime. IRIS, which can be found at www.idtheft.utah.gov, allows ID theft victims to not only file a complaint but get help on resolving the problems caused by ID theft and check up on the latest scams going around. IRIS also allows victims to track the status of their case. The Utah Attorney General's Office says the Web site is secure.
Police hailed the IRIS Web site as a way for multiple agencies to talk to each other about one ID theft victim but acknowledged it may open the floodgates for people who have not yet reported they were victimized. Shurtleff estimates only 33 percent of identity theft crimes are reported to authorities.
"This is an epidemic," said Murray police officer Aaron Rosen, whose own personal information was compromised by a former employer. "I had to be notified and had to notify TransUnion, Experian, Equifax all the agencies for credit reporting, notify my banks and that type of thing. I think it's important that people know when things happen they can go to the state and file an initial complaint and as law enforcers (we) take it from there."
For people without access to the Internet, Laina Gali with the Utah Banker's Association said many bank tellers are being trained on how to use IRIS to help customers report ID theft.
"A lot of people are complaining about it to the banks," she said. "Right now, identity theft in general is Utah's No. 1 crime, according to our records."
E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com