(1) Michelle Brown was a single woman in her late twenties. (2) She lived in southern California and worked as a credit analyst. (3) She was cheerful, and people found her fun to be around. (4) Friends were always telling her how nice she was. (5) She was tidy with her finances. (6) She owned fifteen credit cards but had never been late on a single payment. (7) Ever since she was seventeen, she had perfect credit.

(8) On a winter day, Michelle received a message from someone at the bank about her new Dodge Ram pickup and the payment past due on the loan. (9) She returned the call and told the bank officer that there had to be a mistake; she hadn’t bought a truck. (10) The officer quickly agreed that he must have had the wrong Michelle Brown. (11) The phone numbers on the credit application wasn’t working. (12) To prove beyond a doubt that it was another Michelle Brown he was searching for, she told him her Social Security number. (13) She was stunned – it was the same one that was on the application.

(14) Alarmed, she called up the credit reporting agencies and told them that something fishy was going on. (15) They put a fraud alert on their credit and promised to send out a report on their recent purchases. (16) She checked with the Division of Motor vehicles and learned something astonishing: a duplicate driver’s license had recently been issued to a Michelle Brown. (17) Someone else was using her name: her address, her Social Security number; and her driver’s license. (18) It was as if someone was slowly erasing her identity.

(19) She had never broken a law, any law. (20) In time, she would learn that there was an arrest warrant out for Michelle Brown in Texas. (21) How could she be wanted by the police? (22) The charge was conspiracy to sell marijuana.