ID Theft Linked to Crystal Meth Use

March 24, 2004 -- -- When Salem, Ore., police tracked down a gang that had been burglarizing businesses, they were surprised to learn the crooks weren't trying to sell the computers they'd stolen. They were ransacking the hard drives to steal identities.

The gang members, according to Salem police, were methamphetamine addicts, looking to use the stolen identities to commit fraud to support their habits.

In retrospect, the investigators shouldn't have been surprised at all, though, because what they found is part of a growing trend that police across the West have recognized.

Identity theft and other forms of fraud are attractive because they are much less risky than the other kinds of crimes addicts have traditionally turned to to get money. And if they get caught, perpetrators can expect to serve much shorter sentences for fraud than for crimes such as burglary or robbery.

"There definitely is a link between meth use and identity theft, at least in what we see," said Salem Police Chief Walt Myers, who was recently appointed by Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski to direct statewide efforts to fight crystal meth use.

Myers is not alone. Police up and down the West Coast, from Olympia, Wash., to San Diego are making the connection, as "crank" has increased its hold on communities.

"It's probably become our largest crime problem in Spokane County — everyone we arrest seems to have coke or more often methamphetamine powder," said Cpl. Dave Reagan of the Spokane, Wash., County Sheriff's Office. "And ID theft seems to be the new big thing for them [methamphetamine users]. It seems to be more profitable, because you can actually recoup 100 percent of whatever you're trying to turn around."

For example, a Spokane woman named Stacey Lee Fetch recently pleaded guilty to 15 counts of forgery, two counts of second-degree identity theft — and four counts of possession of methamphetamines. She had written $45,000 worth of fraudulent checks in three months to feed her crank addiction, police said.