Identity thieves are usually motivated by one thing and one thing only – money – but here’s a case where the criminal appears to have been in pursuit of something potentially more valuable: an Ivy League education.
According to this Boston Globe story written by Shelley Murphy (a Buzzblog college classmate at decidedly non-Ivy Northeastern University):
Her real name was Esther Elizabeth Reed. But she allegedly used a stolen identity when she attended Harvard University’s continuing education program and Columbia University. …
The indictment, secretly returned in September and unsealed last week, alleges that Reed, a high school dropout, assumed the identity of a South Carolina woman who vanished in 1999, using it to get into several colleges and bilk the government out of more than $100,000 in student loans.
“She’s a very sharp individual, no question,” said Clark Brazier, an investigator with the Travelers Rest, S.C., police department.
Not sharp enough, though. She’ll be featured tonight on “America’s Most Wanted,” which means she might want to be looking for a makeover and a new address today.
