Burglary of state storage facility creates ID theft concern

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PHOENIX -- More than 10,000 letters sent by the Arizona Department of Economic Security to notify people about stolen private information have been returned as undeliverable, opening these individuals to the prospect of identity theft without warning.

Thieves targeted a Phoenix storage facility near 7th Street and Indian School Road last October, taking two hard drives.

"We think simply somebody broke in and was after the computers, not knowing anything about what might have been on the computers," said Steve Meissner, communications director for the Arizona Department of Economic Security.

The backup drives stored sensitive information about parents and children enrolled in the Early Intervention Program for children age three and under with disabilities or developmental delays.

"He's not crawling, he's barely rolling, he's not sitting up on his own, (and) he just started using his hands," said his mother, Heather Joy Magdelano.

She said having state help means everyting.

"All of these services are allowing him to reach his maximum potential and that's a pretty amazing thing," Magdelano said.

The stolen data now makes her and others vulnerable.

"If they're actually able to get into that system, they can wreak havoc and they can completely take over somebody's identity and can destroy lives," said Detective James Owens with the Phoenix Police Department's document crimes detail.

"Sometimes we don't know we're victims until it's too late. That's generally what we see in our line of work," Owens said.

"We were concerned when it happened, and that's why we took the steps that we took to notify the families," Meissner said.

The Arizona Department of Economic Security sent out approximately 65,000 letters, including to the Magdelanos, but more than ten thousand of them came back undeliverable.

The returned letters now sit in boxes at the Early Intervention Program office.

"The family might have moved, the initial address might have been problematic for any one of a number of reasons. The bottom line is we did due diligence," Meissner said.

Meissner said the files are password protected and that so far there have been no reports of identity theft as a result of the burglary.

Surveillance video shows two suspects, a white male over 30 with light brown hair and a white female over 30 with long blonde hair.

Phoenix Police have not made any arrests in the case.

Contact Information

If you were a participant in the Arizona Early Intervention Program (AzEIP) through October 2008 and have concerns about whether your personal information may have been on this database:
-Send an email to AllAzeip2@azdes.gov
-Call the AzEIP program at 602-532-9960 or 888-439-5609

You are also encouraged to monitor your financial accounts and review your credit report. By law you are entiled to one free credit report each year from each major credit bureau, Equifax, Experian, and TansUnion. To request a free credit report, go to www.AnnualCreditReport.com or call 877-322-8228.