Woman's Social Security number is stolen, credit ruined

For several years, Laura Dobbins, 24, of Kentucky tried to establish credit. But she was unsure why everywhere she went, banks and credit card companies shut the door on her.

The "why" in this mystery was more than 2,000 miles away in Sacramento, authorities said.

Vicente Soto, 30, had no trouble taking out loans, including $621,000 for two houses – using Dobbins' Social Security number, officials said.

"All of these things I should be able to do – getting a house, getting a vehicle – he already did, as me," Dobbins said in a phone interview.

She was 8 years old in 1992 when Soto allegedly bought her Social Security number – apparently through a friend of his sister-in-law, authorities said.

Sacramento detectives say undocumented immigrants often purchase what they're told are fake Social Security cards to gain employment and get by undetected. Soto, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, happened to buy one that turned out to be real, they said.

Soto was arrested in early March in Modesto.

According to court documents filed last November, Soto faces four felony charges – two counts of making a false financial statement and two counts of unlawful use of personal identifying information.

"He was able to get away for so long because she was so young and not using her number," said Detective Mike Wood of the Sacramento police's real estate fraud unit.

Dobbins never suspected her number had been stolen until early 2006, when she was separating from her husband and moving into a rental home in a small eastern Kentucky town. The property manager required her to set up a utility account for electricity before she could move in.

The utility company ran a credit check on her and told her that someone with her Social Security number already had a utility account.

She explained that she had never opened an account anywhere. She had lived with her mother until she got married at 19, and then her husband dealt with the electricity bills.

After weeks of phone calls to the utility and sending proof that it was indeed her Social Security number, the company turned on the power.

"I almost lost the house and the deposit," Dobbins said.

Dobbins said she has applied for credit cards since she was 17.

"I've never had a credit card. I've never had a loan. I have never been able to purchase a new vehicle. Even something as simple as getting a gas card," she said.

In their rejection letters, the credit card companies informed her that she had insufficient credit or asked that she request the reason for their denial in writing, which she never did. She assumed her age was the reason she was being denied credit.

The utility company eventually gave her Soto's name, which she passed on to Sacramento police investigators.

Property records show that in June 2005, Soto bought a three-bedroom single-family home on Red Willow Street in south Sacramento. Two months later, in August, he bought another one on Mills Acres Circle in Rancho Cordova. He also allegedly used Dobbins' Social Security number to obtain a driver's license in Minnesota, where detectives say he has family.

Detectives said he was making payments on his south Sacramento home until he lost his construction job after breaking his arm last summer. His brother was making payments on the Rancho Cordova home but also defaulted recently. Both homes are now in foreclosure.

Sacramento Detective Sheila Bergquist, who investigates financial crimes, said Dobbins is still unable to convince the credit bureaus that she is the victim of identity theft, even after Bergquist talked to bureau representatives and provided them with the crime reports.

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• Call The Bee's Chelsea Phua, (916) 321-1132.