dumpster diving in baytown tx

[Henry Brown <hbrown () knology net>]

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=6724615

BAYTOWN, TX (KTRK) -- Some Baytown homeowners are concerned after they 
discovered that boxes filled with documents containing their personal 
information, including names and Social Security numbers, had just been 
tossed in the trash.

We found someone sifting through a trash truck for documents, but he 
has good reason to be. He's with the Texas attorney general's office. He 
can't speak publicly about what he's investigating, but some homeowners are.

"People's personal information is in there, you know," said homeowner 
Russell Neubear. "It's their Social Security numbers, their phone 
numbers, their kids' IDs and Social Security numbers are in there. It's 
terrible. It's disgusting."

This weekend, they say they found loan documents being removed from 
what had been a model home sales office. The loan applications were 
taken by Royce Homes, which is no longer active in the subdivision. The 
model home is said to have been sold, and part of the trash that was 
taken out included paperwork that could be a gold mine for identity theft.

Homeowner Laurie Newberry said, "It's been here for a couple of days. We 
don't know. They could already have information. We never found 
everything. We know we didn't find everything, because we had another 
house we were going to buy in here and we didn't find any information on 
that house."

The question is, who is responsible -- the builder who had the loan 
application files, the current property owner or the cleaning crew? The 
AG's office says it's too soon to comment. For those who found their own 
paperwork in the trash, though, they fear time is already up.

"Somebody needs to take responsibility for their actions," said 
homeowner Theresa Duke. "This information gets in the wrong hands, then 
we're completely violated, not once, but twice, and for the rest of our 
lives."

We attempted to speak with an attorney for Royce Homes. Our phone call 
was not returned. We could not Royce Homes by phone either.

[...]

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