New Charges Filed Against Identity Thief

The North Hollywood identity thief whose arrest led to a national outcry over data security now faces additional charges.

Olatunji Oluwatosin, 42, who pleaded no contest in February to one felony count of identity theft for his role in a fraud ring that stole data from ChoicePoint Inc., was charged last week in Los Angeles County Superior Court with six additional counts of identity theft, conspiracy and grand theft.

According to court documents, Oluwatosin, who is serving a 16-month sentence, pleaded not guilty on the additional counts. If convicted on all the charges, he could be sentenced to as many as 18 additional years in prison.

Oluwatosin, a Nigerian national, remains the only person charged in the scheme, which exposed the Social Security numbers, addresses and other personal data of as many as 145,000 people to identity thieves.

Prosecutors declined to discuss the new charges, and Oluwatosin’s attorney could not be reached.

Court documents in the initial case said Oluwatosin had used false business identities to purchase access to the ChoicePoint databases, which are used legally by financial institutions, personnel offices and landlords seeking personal data.

Documents filed under the new charges allege that Oluwatosin committed those crimes as part of a conspiracy with unnamed accomplices and caused at least $2.5 million in damages.

Armed with the ChoicePoint data, the conspirators opened credit card accounts in victims’ names and then took out cash advances at automated teller machines, prosecutors alleged.

After Oluwatosin’s arrest, Alpharetta, Ga.-based ChoicePoint was required under a new California law to notify people whose personal data might have been viewed during the illegal operations.

The disclosures by the company, followed shortly thereafter by announcements by other corporations of data leaks, led to congressional hearings and proposals for tightening regulations on the gathering and dissemination of personal data.