The U.S. government has a central Web site for information on identity theft including material from a variety of government agencies. Darrow needed money to fund a drug habit. Using a phony computer-generated driver's license as an identification, Darrow cashed payroll checks he also had created on the computer and bought merchandise with bogus personal checks. Supported by a ring of nine accomplices, he assumed the identity of no fewer than 75 people, including Frank. Darrow went so far as to replace the security information on Frank's credit file, so that if Frank were asked, for example, to confirm his mother's maiden name, he wouldn't have been able to.
Identity theft is part of a dramatic surge in white collar crime.
In Denver and across the country, violent crime is down as criminals have turned instead to scams like identity theft that are a lot less dangerous and far more lucrative. Our racketeering statute is a Class II felony in Colorado. Darrow, currently in jail in Colorado, is now cooperating with authorities, hoping to avoid a possible 48-year sentence for crimes he says were remarkably easy to pull off. Once a brazen name dropper, Darrow now seems contrite. For a while anyway, he'll be using his own name.