STEALING TO OBTAIN THE AMERICAN DREAM

Having your driver's license stolen can have devastating and long-lasting consequences. From this article in the Washington Post:

The woman who took a stranger's driver's license and used it to buy a $419,000 townhouse in Fairfax County last year was sentenced to five years in prison yesterday.

The scheme unraveled for Elizabeth Cabrera-Rivera, 40, not when she obtained two mortgages for the house in the stranger's name, or when she deeded the house to herself. It was when she refinanced her second mortgage, and the bank sent an overpayment check to the stranger, that Cabrera-Rivera was caught. She was arrested at the BB&T bank in Arlington County that figured out her scheme.

The victim of the identity theft, Jose Lara of Winchester, told an Arlington Circuit Court judge yesterday that the fraud had devastated him financially. When he went to refinance the house he lives in with his wife and three children, he was turned down. When he sought a business loan for his trucking company, he was refused and had to sell the company at a $70,000 loss. His one line of credit was reduced from $9,500 to $1,000, Lara said.

Arlington Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Evie Eastman asked Lara what credit issuers say when he tells them he has been a crime victim. "They say that it's something they just can't believe," Lara said. "I've had to shut down everything completely. I just have my job [with a printing company]. That's all I have right now."

[...]

"His life is in ruins right now," Eastman said of Lara. "It is going to be an uphill battle for Mr. Lara to clear his name."

A little play for sympathy for the criminal in the article:

Cabrera-Rivera "never intended to cause Mr. Lara these problems," said her lawyer, Alberto Salvado. "Her whole plan was to actually have a house in her name. It was not intended to use Mr. Lara and leave him with the bill to pay for everything."

...Cabrera-Rivera's "whole intent in this was to have a piece of the American dream," Salvado said, decided to buy a house.

[...]

Eastman said Cabrera-Rivera and her husband were laborers who did not earn enough money to buy a $419,000 townhouse, but a mortgage broker got them the loan in Lara's name. Eastman said Cabrera-Rivera also opened a joint bank account in her and Lara's name, causing Lara further credit problems....

Cabrera-Rivera received a five-year sentence. The mortgage company, which likely has assets beyond those of the criminals, escaped accountability, so Lara has little hope of any financial assistance. His dream of a lucrative business is delayed, if not completely unreachable now. Cabrera-Rivera can sob all she wants. She's not the victim here.