Woman speaks out as identity theft ring nears 9,000

Duluth police tell Channel 2 Action News the number of victims of a local suspected identity theft ring has reached 8,965.

Channel 2's Kerry Kavanaugh spoke to one of the victims Wednesday. Police say they've located victims from Georgia, to Texas, to California.

"I'm paying way more than I should ever of had to pay and I don't know why," Jeanette Adams said.

Adams, a retired DeKalb County nurse, said that thought weighs on her every time she wrote a check to the IRS.

Adams said her problems started in early 2010 with a letter stating she owed nearly $2,400 in taxes. She said she went round and round with her tax preparer and found only one solution.

"Just pay it because we can't figure out where it has come from," Adams said.

She said for the next 18 months, she struggled to pay for her medicine and mortgage. Adams said it nearly forced her into foreclosure.

"I would pay one month, then pay another month and pay a partial payment just to keep from going into foreclosure," Adams said.

The following year, she finally got some answers when she got a call from Duluth police.

"You are the victim of an identity fraud. I said that tells it all," Adams said.

Channel 2 Action News first reported in April that Duluth police were investigating some stolen checks.

When police executed a search warrant at the home of Annette Ford, 47, of Suwanee, they said they located stacks of fraudulent tax returns, stolen checks and a legal pad loaded with handwritten names birth dates and Social Security numbers.

Police said Jeanette Adams' name was among them.

In June, Ford pleaded guilty to conspiracy and identity fraud in federal court. In July, investigators said they also charged Derrick Picket, Stone Mountain, in connection with the ring. Police told Kavanaugh charges are pending against at least two more suspects.

Meanwhile, the number of victims is nearing 9,000.

"It's just not fair for us to work hard and you just come and take it away just because you can," Adams said.

Detectives believe the thieves had a phony tax preparation service and were filing returns on behalf of unknowing victims.

Adams said she's considering returning to work to get caught up on her bills.