The Associated Press
MIAMI- A Miami-Dade police officer has been relieved of duty and is under investigation for allegedly obtaining unauthorized access to Social Security numbers and other personal data on as many as 4,689 people maintained by ChoicePoint Inc.
The company, based in Alpharetta, Ga., said Friday that the U.S. Secret Service was investigating the matter but that it was unclear whether any identity theft had occurred.
The employee, ChoicePoint said in a letter to the potentially affected consumers, was not authorized to use the Miami-Dade Police Department’s account with the company and “had accessed information illegally and acted outside the scope of his employment.”
The consumer information accessed, with log-in and password, included Social Security data, drivers license numbers and dates of birth.
Detective Mary Walters, a Miami-Dade police spokewoman, said the officer involved was relieved of duty and an internal investigation was under way.
She declined to provide the officer’s name or any details about where in the department the officer worked.
In mid-February, ChoicePoint disclosed that thieves posing as small business customers gained access to one of its databases, possibly compromising the personal information of some 145,000 people.
The data broker company, which warehouses and sells consumer information to government agencies and other customers including insurance companies, discovered the breach in late September 2004.
A Nigerian man pleaded no contest to one charge in that case and has subsequently been indicted in California on new federal charges including identity theft.
ChoicePoint said Friday that it had notified an additional 4,667 people who may have been affected by that breach.