a local foster family reaches out to the
news for Jax i-team after their
identities are stolen telling us the man
who did it was an employee of the state
of Georgia
but not just any employee a child
services worker the i-team obtained her
internal report describing the evidence
against the employee of Georgia's
division of families and children's
services as overwhelming investigator
Tariq miner talked with the foster
mother and went to the agency for
answers Eric could get in switch to the
mailbox on Mother's Day but instead of
cards from her kids it's not sad it's
sick it's just completely sick she was
greeted with not one but three credit
denial letters for loans she never
applied for yeah I never thought in a
million years it would happen to me
what's more is who the suspected
identity thief was an employee with
Georgia's Department of Family and
Children Services
James McQueen according to this internal
investigation by DFCS mcqueen put his
agency issued cell phone number on
applications and he accessed personal
information regarding agency clients and
then later used that information in an
attempt to commit identity theft and
fraud why do you think he chose you I
have no idea
I mean we're nothing special we're not
millionaires Gideon says she called the
DFCS headquarters with an emergency in
April when she and her husband were
having a problem with the child they
were fostering weeks later they received
a phone call from an Atlanta phone
number that set off red flags he told my
husband that he was a police officer in
the city of Brunswick he was the
detective and that he was trying to
press charges against a former foster
child that was in our home as if that
wasn't strange enough the call got very
personal very quickly like what kind of
personal questions it was questions like
what street did you live on and he read
off four different answers the same
questions that you get when you're doing
like a credit you know credit check your
checking your credit and it hazards
multiple you know questions on there and
you have to pick the right one they did
a reverse phone number search on the
caller and it was tied to McQueen it was
his personal cellphone days later those
credit denial letters were rolling in
what do you think of
somebody using the state agency to try
to commit a fraud well the thing I'm
worried about is if my identity is not
safe with the state how say for the
children in state custody DFCS acted
swiftly in their review suspending and
then firing McQueen right in the
evidence against him was overwhelming
he used his agency cell phone to call 13
financial institutions his personal cell
to call Gideon's
a search of his work laptop showed he'd
visited the credit company websites
state workers question McQueen and his
only explanation is that his own
identity was stolen that some unknown
person or persons are out to get me and
someone hacked his work and professional
devices even though admittedly none of
those items were ever out of his direct
control or custody as forgettin she says
she and her husband spent three thousand
dollars to receive their certificates to
foster in Glenn County their identities
and their trust was stolen in return
house has changed her life
I don't sleep well at night every little
noise I'm peeking out my window
wondering if this guy is gonna come to
my house because he knows where I live
I don't lie that I go to the doctor's
office they want my social security
number and I'm afraid to even put it on
you know let's see a doctor there should
have been no reason why he could have
pulled up my information
he's an intake worker that's a whole
different Department Gideon's did ask
for DFCS to pay for an identity theft
protection service for her and her
husband but she tells me that the agency
offered to reimburse her if she paid for
it initially but she didn't trust that
offer so she didn't sign up for that
service now the Georgia Bureau of
Investigation is still looking into
possible criminal charges for James
McQueen we did call a phone number we
had for between multiple times but we
could not reach him