Indiana Veterans Victims of Identity Theft

VA: Indiana veteran among 4 who had identities compromised 
WISH News
By Bennett Haeberle
Published: January 13, 2015

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Documents containing personal information of four veterans – including one from Indiana – were left unattended for two to three days in a “common area” of a federal building in Cleveland, the Department of Veterans Affairs confirmed to I-Team 8.

As a result of the error, the VA is now apologizing and offering to pay for identity protection for the victims.

In a letter from the Cleveland VA Regional Office sent to Indiana veteran Bob Ildefonzo, Director Tony Milons wrote:

“We were recently notified that documents containing your social security number were inadvertently left unattended in a common area within the Cleveland Federal Building. As a result of the error, information identifiable to you was inappropriately disclosed. We have investigated this incident and provided remedial training to those individuals who handle this type of information.”

The identity breach, which happened last fall, highlights yet another issue new VA Secretary Bob McDonald will be asked to correct this year after allegations of long wait times, falsified documents and pending medical claims led to the ousting of former Secretary Eric Shinseki in 2014.

A copy of the letter, provided to I-Team 8, goes on to state that the VA will pay for credit monitoring for Ildefonzo through Equifax, but doesn’t elaborate on how the breach occurred, where it occurred and if anyone was disciplined for the mistake.

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