Seattle Crime Examiner

By Seattle Crime Blog reporter Mike Baldwin

A mother/daughter student loan scandal has been uncovered by the U.S. Attorney's Working Group on I.D. Theft.

Kathy Hardy and her daughters Theresa Hardy and Leslie Gordon of Renton were arrested after applying for $2.2 million in student loans and receiving $690,000 from the federal government.

The trio was apparently using stolen identities to pose as students to attain the loans, and then was using the money for their own fun.

Any time someone defrauds a U.S. government agency, two things pop in to my head.  One, how did the government not realize something was going on, and two, how is this going to affect legitimate students trying to get real help.

These women deserve to get a high sentence.  The government, although stating it will try to recover as much as the money as possible, is not going to get anywhere near $690,000 back.  Thieves don't steal simply to keep the money in their bank accounts.

It also surprises me how easy identity theft is.  I'm guessing this trio was not exactly pushing the 150's on the I.Q. test. I think that's what makes identity theft such a scary crime.  Anybody can do it.  And it's only a matter of time until someone is victimized.

Let's hope these women get soem real education behind bars.