Ex-County Resident Convicted in Federal Identity Theft Case

A former Ventura County resident has been convicted in an identity theft case, the U.S. attorney’s office said Wednesday.

Theresa Marie Thompson-Snow pleaded guilty Monday to three counts of false representation of a Social Security number and one count of bankruptcy fraud in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

Thompson-Snow, 29, had assumed a woman’s name similar to hers in order to obtain student loans that she was not qualified to receive, officials said.

She applied for two loans using the name and Social Security number of the other woman after accidentally receiving loan information in the mail in mid-1995, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Ranee Katzenstein.

At that time, Thompson-Snow was living in Oxnard and Port Hueneme and was working as a licensed notary and paralegal. She defaulted on the loans, and in January 1997 fraudulently filed for bankruptcy. Thompson-Snow, who since moved to Chula Vista, is believed to have fraudulently collected $16,000, Katzenstein said.

The FBI began investigating after a Georgia university professor reported that she had been receiving calls from companies that she owed them large sums of money.

Theresa Mae Thompson, who teaches English at Valdosta State University, and Thompson-Snow had both attended a college in Arizona and had both received student loans administered by the same company.

Thompson-Snow faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and fines of up to $1 million when she is sentenced May 24 in Los Angeles.