This time around, the activities in Peoria, Illinois having nothing to do with Betty Friedan or The Feminine Mystique. While this town was the birthplace of the controversial feminist author, its most current claim to fame is one it wishes would never have happened. An employee at the Illinois Eye Center apparently was using her private access to personal files to screen applicants for identity theft.

Authorities don’t have all the details at this point, although they view the investigation as ongoing. No numbers have been given as to the number of potential victims, although the records at the Illinois Eye Center cover over 100,000 residents in the Land of Lincoln. The employee suspected as the culprit behind the crime worked for the company from June-November of 2007. During this time period, she accessed numerous files in an effort to learn which people had the best credit ratings and were the most susceptible to identity theft. The employees apparent targets were females, aged 18-25.

The Peoria Sheriff’s Department was first notified of a string of identity thefts in January 2008. After some investigative work, they learned that all of the women got treatment at the Illinois Eye Center. Further inquiries led authorities to the terminal used by the terminated employee. She was brought in for questioning and maintains her innocence, although police are hoping to charge her soon. The Illinois Eye Center would not release why the woman was no longer employed there, although they said that it had nothing to do with any violations of personal privacy laws and that they have been fully cooperating with the police.

At least ten attempts of identity theft have been made against women falling in between the 18-25 age range listed above. In the majority of these cases, the attempts have been unsuccessful. Unfortunately, in at least once case the theft was completed and a large loan was taken out by someone in the name of a victim. While none of the victims were available for comment at the time of this article, police said that the women had taken steps to protect their lines of credit and to halt any efforts at identity theft.

Within recent years, companies have developed in response to the prevalence of identity theft. One of these ID theft services is Lifelock. Best known for its promotions that involve the CEO shouting his social security number to groups of people in large cities, it provides services that monitor credit reports. It has contact with all three credit bureaus and alerts members to any actions that involve the bureaus. Such instance include taking out loans or opening new credit card accounts.

Authorities do not have a time table for when they think their investigation will conclude. Members of the Illinois Eye Center who were affected are advised to remain vigilant in their record keeping. The affected individuals should have received a letter from the company alerting them to this security breach. If you are a member and notice any suspicious activity on your financial accounts, alert the Peoria Sheriff’s Department immediately.