Thurston County woman still haunted by months-old ID theft

Woman still dealing with months-old ID theft

A South Sound woman is still dealing with fraudulent credit card charges months after her identity was stolen.

Olympia, wash. - Months after becoming the victim of ID theft, Julie McReynolds is still living a bad dream.

"The first couple weeks was definitely a nightmare," she said.

We first talked to her in February after the Thurston County Sheriff's Office said a woman had stolen her identity, using it to create a fake ID, in order to go on a three-day shopping spree at stores where McReynolds had accounts. McReynolds believes the alleged thief was able to do this through the "store lookup" option.

The Thurston County Sheriff says the accused identity thief is pictured below, and they are still searching for her.

"She did use three existing accounts. Using a fake ID, she was able to get access and make purchases and walk away with them," said McReynolds.

While other retailers and stores cleared McReynolds of the charges on her account quickly, including a Macy's store in Tacoma, she says that's not the case with the Macy's location at the Capital Mall in Olympia.

"I was getting emails daily, sometimes twice a day, that I had a payment due on that second charge," said McReynolds.

She said the company initially wrote to tell her that the Capital Mall Macy's charges would be wiped away.

"Paragraph 3 clearly states they were taking the late fees and interest off," McReynolds said, pointing to a letter she'd received from Macy's.

However, in a second letter, the company apparently changed its mind.

"Seven days later they wrote another letter saying they were not removing the second charge. They were reinstating it, and they gave me the full amount, which included the late fees and the interest," said McReynolds.

Despite providing the company with the incident report from the Thurston County Sheriff's Office, she says the company continued to go after her.

"It’s not my debt. I didn’t’ charge that. I didn't earn that bill, so I shouldn’t have to pay that, and it makes me wonder how many other people get railroaded by them over the same deal," said McReynolds.

Additionally, she says she was reported to the credit bureau for failing to make payments on the charges.

"It’s destroyed my credit and I had very, very exemplary credit. It’s taken a hit, and that makes me angry too. I’ve worked 40+ years for the credit score that I had," said McReynolds.