WASHINGTON 3000 PEOPLE SUFFER IDENTITY THEFT RISK DUE TO STOLEN COMPUTER FROM STATE AUDITOR Burglary leaves thousands at risk for ID theft | Local News | KING5.com | News for Seattle, Washington:

Burglary leaves thousands at risk for ID theft

07:07 PM PDT on Tuesday, May 8, 2007

By ROB PIERCY / KING 5 News

MOUNT VERNON, Wash. – A burglary in Skagit County may have left as many as 3,000 people at risk for identity theft.

In February, someone stole a laptop computer from the Washington State Auditor's Office in Mount Vernon. That computer contained names, addresses and social security numbers of workers at several local government agencies – everyone from Mount Vernon police officers to teachers at Skagit Valley College – and many of those workers are just now finding out.

Susan Ostrowski's husband, a former welding instructor at the college, was one of them.

'The letter said that this laptop had been stolen February 1 and we are just now being notified three months later,' she said.

That letter, sent by the auditor's office, stated that people weren't notified earlier because police did not want information about the case released.

"In three months a lot could have happened that we wouldn't have been aware of," she said.

According to Mount Vernon Police, they did not ask the state auditor's office to withhold this information. In fact, police say they didn't even know what was contained on that computer until police officers themselves started receiving a copy of this letter.

"I'm not sure that we understood exactly what was on the computer and the need for them to have that information," said Sgt. Mark Shipman, Mount Vernon Police Dept.

Shipman says all they were told is that the information was personal. The state never mentioned anything about social security numbers.

"I guess I assumed I didn't need to do that with a police officer," said Jan Jutte who is with the state auditor's office.

Jutte says this all comes down to a misunderstanding and given the chance to do it all over, they would have notified people sooner.

"We feel bad about this. We wish it hadn't happened. We certainly hope it never happens again," said Jutte.

As for the Ostrowskis, they just hope it's not too late and that their credit and identity isn't in jeopardy.

So far, investigators do not believe the information on that laptop has been misused. Still, police suggest anyone who received that letter should put an alert on their credit and run a credit report.