By Adam Ghassemi
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Carols Llanes and Martha Garcia have had a plan since meeting during their deployments in Afghanistan: come home, get married and start a new life together.
Now they aren't sure if that will ever happen.
"You come back to a bigger war here at home for something you can't do anything about," said Garcia who just left her 14-year Army career last month to learn there was a warrant out for her arrest.
"For unpaid medical bills for abdominal surgery," she said. "I had several credit cards opened in my name, a mortgage and vehicle loans attempted to be pulled out."
Garcia's credit is ruined, and she isn't sure how it started.
"I've sent everything I could possibly send to prove who I am and the only response that I get is that I'm the fraudulent person," she said.
She keeps everything in a large binder, or "credit bible," and said her research points to a woman in South Bend, Indiana who is holding her credit hostage.
"Her name is Martha Martinez, also known as Martha Mendoza," she said flipping through her research.
Garcia said Equifax blocked her from accessing or challenging things on her credit report, thinking she was stealing her own identity. In turn, she said it gave the woman posing as her a detailed credit history report.
"What has taken me years and years to build that foundation, to build that good credit somebody else is living off of basically," she said.
Her husband said it takes every ounce of strength not to drive the eight hours to South Bend to confront the person they believe is responsible.
"As men, we like to fix everything. If something is broke we find a way to fix it and this is a Rubik's Cube that I can't solve," said Llanes who is currently stationed at Ft. Campbell.
An officer with the Clarksville Police Department took a report, but the agency has no jurisdiction in Indiana.
Investigators with the St. Joseph County, Indiana, District Attorney's Office and South Bend, Indiana, Police Department are looking into the case. On Monday, a police spokesman said if they were able to track the suspect down, and prove she attempted to open accounts in Garcia's name, she could face forgery and fraud charges.
A Equifax spokesman said the credit bureau is also looking into Garcia's case.
Garcia believes there should be a program setup to help service members who end up trying to deal with identity theft while being deployed overseas.
Until something changes, Garcia has a full-time day job trying to prove who she really is.
"You come home from doing the right thing and you come home to something like this that can pretty much put a stop on your life," said Garcia.
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