Scottsdale, AZ police are investigating 121 instances of identity theft, all linked to Dominick Joseph Hurley, a car dealership employee, .
Police say between October 2007 and August 2008, Hurley opened $60,500 worth of credit card accounts at Lowe’s and Best Buy using the 121 stolen identities, and may be part of an extensive identity theft ring.
Hurley has 17 prior felony convictions and spent more than three years in a state prison.
Hurley was arrested October 9, following what seemed like an ordinary traffic stop. The car’s driver, Christopher Milazzo, was also arrested and is suspected of being a co-conspirator in the identity theft ring.
According to court documents, police found numerous credit applications from Henry Brown Buick-Pontiac-GMC during the traffic stop.
The dealership is cooperating with the identity theft investigation, and gave police documentation that indicates Hurley may have stolen the identities of at least four customers during July and August 2008.
Kristen Rodriguez believes she’s one of those four victims. Within a week of buying a car at the Henry Brown dealership, a Best Buy account had been opened by somebody using her name. Shortly after that, a T-Mobile account and several other credit lines were opened in her name.
“I was closing accounts as fast as new ones were opening,” Rodriguez said. “The amount of time you have to spend is unimaginable.
Rodriguez said she spent dozens of hours trying to fix her credit, but her credit score was still 150 points lower than it was before the identity theft.
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