Less than three weeks after hundreds of documents containing Social Security numbers of state Department of Human Services clients were found, the same unlocked trash bin yielded still more.
On Saturday behind the agency's office at 1220 Centerville Ave. in Belleville, records for five persons seeking assistance from the state were found. Each contained names, addresses, home phone numbers, birth dates and Social Security numbers -- data commonly used by identity thieves to obtain fraudulent credit cards.
Shannon Zavala, 28, of Shiloh, was one of the five clients whose records were discovered Saturday.
During a telephone interview, Zavala said, "I nearly drove off the road when you read my Social Security number."
"You could've gone out and used that information to buy a car in my name. That shouldn't be in there," she said.
Agency spokesman Tom Green said on Monday morning he would look into why the records had been discarded openly instead of being shredded, as per policy.
But about seven hours later, just before 5 p.m., a reporter went back yet again to the same trash bin. Still another document containing a name, address and Social Security number was found as the Belleville office's director, Joe Heinzmann watched. While a surprised Heinzmann said he could not comment, he agreed the document should have been shredded.
After learning from Heinzmann that the trash bin was still yielding confidential documents that should have been shredded, Green promised, "As of tomorrow morning, or as soon as we can do it, every trash bin not just in Belleville but in our offices statewide will have a lock on it. Employees need to know that this is serious and could cost them their jobs if they don't properly dispose of confidential records."
On Monday, when Zavala showed up for her scheduled appointment at the DHS office in Belleville, the document containing her data was returned to her. She showed it to a state employee and complained to her about it being in the open trash.
"She told me you have to speak to your caseworker. She's the one who put it in the trash," Zavala said afterward.
State Rep. Tom Holbrook, D-Belleville, said he contacted the governor's office and the Department of Human Services concerning the lode of confidential documents found earlier this month.
Hearing on Monday of the second discovery within a month, Holbrook said, "This needs to stop and it needs to stop now."
He promised to renew efforts to get staffers in Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration to help ensure that state agencies entrusted with confidential documents dispose of them properly.
Since May a News-Democrat reporter has repeatedly been able to find personal data in state trash bins, including those in Springfield. The Dumpster checks began after a local man found driver's license records blowing down the street near a state office in East St. Louis.
Steve Johnson, chief investigator for the St. Clair County Sheriff's Department, helps to coordinate a special metro-east Identity Theft Task Force in conjunction with the U.S. attorney's office in Fairview Heights.
Johnson said ordinary trash bins are among the top sources of raw material for identity thieves. They also prey on trash bags left outside residences.
The Social Security number is crucial, he said.
Holbrook, the state representative, said this time he won't stop until he is assured that documents are disposed of properly at the DHS office in Belleville.
"They (DHS) reprimanded someone the last time and they need to continue whatever discipline is needed to make these people realize that these records must be shredded," Holbrook said, adding, "They need to enforce their own rules."
Reporter George Pawlaczyk can be reached at [email protected] and 239-2625.
