Las Vegas woman charged with operating identity theft lab
A Las Vegas woman is charged with operating an identity theft lab after police said they found a cache of stolen mail, medical records from cancer patients and Social Security numbers in her possession.
Las Vegas Justice Court records show that Diane Dove, 40, faces a single felony count of establishing or possessing a financial forgery laboratory with intent to commit an unlawful act.
The case originated in November, when Las Vegas police were called to a home on Hartman Street, near North Rainbow Boulevard and West Craig Road in Las Vegas.
An arrest report for Dove states that police went to the apartment for a “domestic disturbance” involving Dove and two women. Dove was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of domestic battery. While investigating, police said, they found a trove of other individuals’ financial documents in the apartment.
“(A witness) advised patrol officers there were backpacks belonging to Dove in the shed with printouts of hundreds of Social Security cards because Dove takes over various persons’ identities and prints new Social Security cards,” police said in the report.
Police went to inspect the records and instead found a smoldering barbecue grill in the backyard. A witness told officers that when police were called for the domestic disturbance, “Dove then grabbed a huge stack of forged identities and forged Social Security cards and set them on fire.”
The documents in the barbecue were burned to ashes, according to police. A witness told police that “Dove has been printing fraudulent identities and placing Dove’s own picture in the State ID so she can use information of another to impersonate.”
In Dove’s room were “several high-dollar items including Louis Vuitton sunglasses, high-end purses and several expensive perfumes and colognes,” police wrote.
Police said they took possession of several financial records and documents including:
— Retirement account printouts for a man who did not live there. The man’s Social Security number was written on the printouts.
— A printed fraudulent Nevada driver’s license.
— Bank account statements belonging to a woman who did not live there.
— Printed insurance policies “from various individuals other than Dove” that included names, addresses, vehicle identification numbers, and bank account information for automatic drafts.
— Stolen mail from over 30 people.
— Packets of identity profiles with stolen mail, emails, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, addresses and phone numbers that police said are commonly used for identity theft.
— Stolen hospital records for cancer patients. On the documents were dates of birth and Social Security and bank account information.
— Check stock for printing checks and photo stock for printing forged identities.
Court records show that Dove has retained LV Criminal Defense to represent her in court. An attorney with the firm, Nicholas Wooldridge, declined to comment on Dove’s case.
Contact Glenn Puit by email at gpuit@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter.
