One of the largest aid agencies in Carthage was burglarized overnight Thursday night or Friday morning and files, containing the personal information of about 2,000 families, were stolen.
Carthage Police Detective Randee Kaiser said Crosslines Ministries of Carthage, 600 E. Sixth St., was burglarized sometime between 5 p.m. Thursday, and 7:57 a.m. Friday, when ministry officials called police.
Kaiser said among the items stolen were paper files containing names, addresses, social security numbers and other personal information of 2,000 individuals served by Crosslines.
"They stole files, hard copies, a whole box of papers from the ministry," Kaiser said. "We can't say what else they took and we have no indication of why they took the box of papers in the first place or whether they knew what they were taking."
Kaiser recommended that anyone who has given personal information belonging to themselves or family members to Crosslines should take steps to avoid potential identity theft.
Some of those steps should include contacting the fraud department of each of the three major credit bureaus.
"Tell them to flag your file with a fraud alert including a statement that creditors should get your permission before opening any new accounts in your name," Carthage police said in a written release. "At the same time you can ask the credit bureaus for copies of your credit report. Credit bureaus must give you a free copy of your credit report if it is inaccurate because of fraud. Review your credit reports carefully and in a few months, order new copies of your credit reports to verify that no new fraudulent activity has occurred. You do not need to order your credit score."
Kaiser said the burglar or burglars forced their way into the ministry.
"We can't say if it was one or more than one suspect at this time," Kaiser said. "We keep an open mind about number of suspects and that kind of information."
Kaiser said with the files missing, Crosslines doesn't have any way to notify the people affected of the incident, which is why the police, in cooperation with Crosslines are reaching out to potential victims through the media.