Monday, March 14, 2005 | 10:56 a.m.
The state Department of Motor Vehicles has been bombarded with phone calls from concerned citizens after announcing Friday that about 9,000 Las Vegas residents had detailed personal information stolen during a burglary last week.
On Saturday the DMV received 162 calls about the robbery and another 64 calls on Sunday, DMV spokesman Kevin Malone said.
"We've already got quite a few phone calls today," Malone said this morning about 9 a.m.
During a press conference Friday DMV officials said they had been wrong when they had said a few days prior that the computer stolen from the DMV at 4110 Donovan Way near Craig Road and Interstate 15 could not yield any personal information to burglars because it was encrypted.
The officials conceded that files stolen from the computers in the wee hours of March 7 provide the burglars with complete driver's license information as well as Social Security numbers and dates of birth for 8,738 people who had been issued driver's licenses at the DMV from Nov. 25, 2004, to March 4, 2005.
Malone encouraged citizens who think their information may have been taken to first go to the DMV website, www.dmvnv.com, and then call a special hotline number (702) 486-8637 if they have additional questions or need to confirm that their information was taken.
The DMV will print out a new license with a different driver's license number on it and will send it to every individual affected by the burglary, officials said.
The new licenses and a letter of explanation that will invalidate the previous license, are expected to be sent out Wednesday, Malone said.
He added that people with DMV-related questions should not call North Las Vegas Police, unless they have information about the crime.
"The state is extremely sorry this happened," said Ginny Lewis, director of the DMV.
She said that the DMV discovered that the burglars could access the personal information by mid-day on Thursday -- four days after the original burglary -- after the agency's computer vendor alerted it to the problem.
The DMV is now taking steps to ensure that no personal information is left on any computers at DMV branches at the end of the day, officials said. All computers have been reconfigured and internal procedures have been changed that will likely ensure this doesn't happen again, she said.
Paul Masto, assistant special agent in charge of the Las Vegas office of the U.S. Secret Service, said the agency is pursuing leads. He declined to comment on whether or not any suspects have been identified, but said the investigation has been expanded to Utah, Arizona and California.
Masto advised anyone who had their personal information stolen to close out their current bank accounts and start new ones.
Tim Bedwell, spokesman for North Las Vegas Police, also said North Las Vegas Police officers are also following up on leads but has not yet made any arrests.
"It is possible that we will make an arrest before any false IDs are made," he said.
So far, the authorities have no information on any identity thefts arising out of the personal information taken from the DMV computer.
The DMV at Donovan Way was burglarized on March 7 when unidentified burglars drove a car into through a 9-foot by 11-foot glass window and stole a computer, printing equipment and 1,700 blank driver's licenses. The burglars got away in less than 15 minutes.
Lewis said the DMV is increasing security at DMV locations in the state but can't turn the offices into "fortresses."
The offices of the California Department of Motor Vehicles, however, have more security measures in place than those in Las Vegas.
Each California DMV office, for example, is outfitted with internal security cameras, said Steve Haskins, spokesman for the California DMV.
Since 2001, no DMV in California has been burglarized, he said.
"Our security is top notch," he said.
Nevada DMV branches such as the one in North Las Vegas do not have security cameras but officials are currently requesting grant money from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to fund installing them, Lewis said.
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