WORTHINGTON -- A woman from Pueblo, Colo., was recently informed she owes more than $1,000 to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for unclaimed income of more than $20,000, which she earned working at Swift & Co. The problem is she has never worked for Swift.
According to court documents, Sara Jo King had her purse stolen in 1999, and the thief made off with her driver's license and social security information.
King was told her identity was used to earn income at the Swift plant in Greeley, Colo., but she told a Worthington Police Detective the person using her information was working in Worthington.
The detective ran the information and found a record of a Sara Jo King living on College Way in Worthington. A notation in the driver's license record said the Department of Motor Vehicles had suspicions the documents might be fraudulent -- the woman who had allegedly applied for the ID had to look at her social security card before signing her name.
The detective got documents from the Worthington Swift plant that showed an I-9, a social security card and a Minnesota ID were all presented at the time of hire.
ADVERTISEMENT
Officers went to the address on record and arrested a woman who was later identified as Florinda Orellana-Arias, 38, of El Salvador. She was charged with aggravated forgery and identity theft. A bond of $10,000 was set, but she is on an ICE hold.
During an interview, she said she has three children in El Salvador. She asked if she would be able to get out of jail to make money to send them. If not, she said, she would rather return to her home country.
Her next court date is 9 a.m. Tuesday at the Prairie Justice Center.
