| For Immediate Release June 30th, 2004 |
Contact: | Mark Macaulay (714) 347-8405 (O) (714) 323-486 (C) |
TUSTIN MAN CHARGED WITH 68 COUNTS OF IDENTITY THEFT AND FRAUDULENT POSSESSION OF CONSUMER INFORMATION REGARDING MORE THAN 77,000 CREDIT CARDS
Santa Ana – Fernando Orozco Monje, 32, of Tustin, has been arrested and charged with 68 felony counts relating to identity theft, grand theft, unlawful use of computer data and computerized account information, and the unlawful possession of credit card account information pertaining to over 77,000 accounts stolen from his employer’s database. If convicted on all charges he faces a sentence ranging from 16 months to 43 years in state prison.
Monje worked as an information services technician at Veterinary Pet Insurance (VPI) in Brea from 2000 through 2003. He is accused of using his position to access client insurance information from a national database. Monje is accused of possessing information on approximately 77,100 VPI clients. Monje attempted 60 identity theft transactions, twenty of them were successful and resulted in a loss of more than $28,000. The remainder of the transactions were cancelled by the vendors or credit card agencies before they could be completed.
Monje is scheduled to be arraigned on Friday, July 2, 2004, at 9 AM in department C55 or C57, of the Central Justice Center, 700 Civic Center Drive W., Santa Ana, CA 92701. Senior Deputy District Attorney Mark Sevigny in the Economic Crimes unit has been assigned to the case.