Theft of Goodwill safe raises identity theft concerns

KENT COUNTY, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) – In Kent County, the investigation continues into the theft of a safe from a Goodwill location in Kent County.

This is a theft that Newschannel 3 first reported on in December. A man broke into a Goodwill store and stole a safe, but instead of money that thief got the names, addresses, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers from thousands of people. Now, there are fears that this could turn into a huge identity theft problem.

Elden Shellenbarger first thought the letter from Goodwill was a request for money, but instead Shellenbarger soon realized the organization already has something far more valuable.

"Very alarmed," said Shellenbarger. "Somebody with all this kind of information, they could steal your identity."

Shellenbarger was one of the thousands of former Goodwill employees and participants who had their personal data inside the stolen safe.

The thief broke into the store on 29^th Street in Kentwood on December 15^th.

"He walked out with an entire safe," said Jill Wallce, VP of Community Relations for Goodwill.

Police believe the thief wanted cash, but the safe contained only tapes with data going back 20 years.

"Basically it would be impossible for an individual to even know what to do with that data or even how to open it up," said Wallace.

Wallace says Goodwill has received no reports of any illegal use of that information, but Shellenbarger was still concerned about how long it took Goodwill to notify him.

"Dated January 12^th and it happened December 15^th," said Shellenbarger. "They could have already stolen my identity."

Shellenbarger says he's going to start monitoring his bank statements and credit reports on Tuesday.

"With today being a holiday, I haven't had any time yet to do any checking," said Shellenbarger.

Goodwill of Greater Grand Rapids thought that personal data would be more secure if those tapes were not in a corporate office, but inside one of its stores. The organization has decided not to do that anymore.