WASHINGTON COMPUTER STOLEN FROM CHIROPRACTOR's OFFICEKIROTV.com - News - 4 Arrested In Alleged ID Theft Ring4 Arrested In Alleged ID Theft Ring

POSTED: 3:22 pm PDT September 27, 2005
UPDATED: 3:47 pm PDT September 27, 2005

LAKEWOOD, Wash. -- Lakewood police arrested four people Tuesday in a suspected burglary and identity theft ring, KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reported.

Police said the four stole personal information from a chiropractor's office, including information they used to steal the identities of some patients.

Stephen Smith

One of those arrested confessed to the crimes in an interview with KIRO 7 Eyewitness News South Sound reporter Kevin McCarty.

"I was doing some fraudulent stuff and I kind of forced my girlfriend into doing it," said Stephen Smith, 22, who was in handcuffs as he spoke from the back seat of a squad car.

"It's so hard for me to get a job because I've had past felonies," he said. When asked what he did, he said he was "ordering stuff in people's names and forcing my girlfriend to do checks, cash checks, fraudulent checks, stolen checks."

Police seized files and computers stolen from the chiropractor's office in a raid at a Lakewood home.

"You go to a medical facility for treatment. They want to know insurance providers and so forth, so there is a lot of information they can get from those records," said Sgt. Ryan Larson of Lakewood police.