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Kimberly Houk ReportingIdentity theft is the fastest growing crime in America, and the consequences in some cases can be extreme. A young woman in Utah is now fighting a bureaucratic nightmare that could very well haunt her for the rest of her life.
She has a file of bounced check notices that's growing thicker by the day, and it's not going to end anytime soon.
Lindsey Perschon, Victim: “Credit's a big part of your life. It's your whole entire life and I didn't even get to get started before I got knocked down. It's going to be a struggle and a fight."
A fight that started last October when Lindsey's purse was stolen. She reported it and a couple months later while applying for a car loan she realized something was wrong.
Lindsey Perschon, Victim: “He turned the computer screen around and it was like...just all this stuff on my credit report. My heart just dropped."
Lindsey soon found out from police that someone had stolen her identity and was using a computer to replicate her checks. She was getting away with using Lindsey's driver's license to pass the checks because she happens to look like her.
Lindsey Perschon, Victim: “She stole my identity! I've been on the phone with credit agencies for three hours every night for three weeks getting my credit report cleared up, worried if I got pulled over I'm going to jail. "
The suspect is Shannon Glines, but she was booked into jail last March under Lindsey Pershon's name. Police say Glines has been arrested for identity theft and various other crimes seven times in the last five years.
Lindsey Perschon, Victim: “Det. Smith told me that she was completely living her life as Lindsey Perschon. The place that she had lived before, they knew her as Lindsey and she was just living her life. And it's like no, that's mine. "
Paul Cunningham, Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office: “The difficult thing is once somebody has used a name as an alias, that's a permanent record. That's why you'll see Lindsey's name will be forever linked as an alias to this arrestee."
Lindsey's mother was told a week ago by a detective that Lindsey's name had been cleared on the county level, but when KSL stopped by the jail earlier today to pick up a mug shot of the suspect they still had her listed under Lindsey's name and when we asked when her birthday was, they told us Lindsey's birthday.
Cindy Perschon, Lindsey's Mother: “The detectives just flat out said that they can not get Lindsey's name taken off at the jail or the state level, that they've tried. And I don't understand that because she's innocent."
Officials say Lindsey not only has to get her name cleared on the county level, but she also has to go through the Bureau of Criminal Identification to get her name cleared on the state level. It’s a process they say is not easy and something she may have to deal with for the rest of her life. Whether she's applying for credit or pulled over for a traffic violation, Lindsey will always have to explain what happened to her when she was only 19-years old.
Adding insult to injury, along with the bounced check notices Lindsey is also being sent medical bills for treatment Shannon Glines received in June while she was in jail.
