The VLW Blog

In a surprise ruling Thursday, a federal district court blocked the Federal Trade Commission from enforcing ‘red flags’ identity fraud regulations against lawyers.
The American Bar Association argued a new identity theft prevention law was not intended to apply to law offices.  U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton agreed in a ruling from the bench yesterday.  He [...]

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The mother of Lynchburg U.S. District Judge Norman Moon was one of the alleged victims of a nurse’s aide accused of using identity theft to steal from residents of nursing homes where she worked, according to a published report.
The News & Advance says Judge James Turk - in place of Moon - will handle the [...]

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A Lynchburg nurse’s aide faces 18 counts of aggravated identity theft in a federal indictment handed down yesterday.
Karen Priscilla Jones, 48, is accused of using personal information from residents at nursing homes where she worked to obtain more than $9,000 worth of goods and services, according to the indictment.
In addition to identity theft charges, Jones [...]

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A federal jury in Harrisonburg returned a not guilty verdict for an Ohio license clerk accused of being part of a fraudulent ID ring for illegal immigrants.  Seven other defendants charged in the scheme pleaded guilty, but Nekeia Mack-Fuller claimed she was innocent and refused a plea deal.
According to the Daily News-Record, Mack-Fuller talked with [...]

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In Hampton Roads, more people are being cleaned out by thieves who learn the victims’ personal data.
The Daily Press reports that identity theft complaints jumped 16 percent in a year in the Virginia Beach/Norfolk/Newport News metropolitan area. There were 1,519 complaints last year in the region, up from 1,310 the year before, said a report [...]

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Federal authorities have accused an inmate in a Virginia federal prison of identity theft, possibly for the purpose of filing false claims for benefits intended for Holocaust victims and their descendants.
According to an indictment, John Kenneth Leighnor Jr., 49, used his time at the Federal Correctional Institute in Petersburg to carry out an elaborate ongoing [...]

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Thieves used the Social Security number of a University of Virginia microchemistry professor to steal $22,000 from his credit card account, reports The Daily Progress. Patrick Grant’s personal information was among the data on U.Va. faculty that was breached twice within the past year.
By Paul Fletcher

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A lawyer’s former secretary, charged with stealing from a dead woman’s estate, is scheduled to plead guilty today under an agreement with federal prosecutors.
Shelia Mae Boone, who worked for Richmond lawyer Harvey Latney Jr., is charged with forging checks totaling more than $272,000, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

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U.S. Attorney John Brownlee and Attorney General Bob McDonnell made a joint announcement this morning that may strike fear in just about any law office…or at least send lawyers scurrying to check their internal procedures.
A woman who was a legal secretary in a Louisa County law firm has been indicted in Charlottesville federal court for [...]

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