Friedman’s closes its doors

Alexander Cain
The Union-Recorder

May 15, 2008 11:35 pm

— As Friedman’s Jewelers in the Wal-Mart shopping center becomes one of the more than 300 stores across the country to close as part of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy claim, concerns arose on Thursday morning of records of customer transactions left behind.
Friedman’s last day of business in Milledgeville was on Mother’s Day while a Friedman’s store in Sandersville is still open, according to Friedman’s representatives.
A news tip received by The Union-Recorder on Thursday morning claimed documents listing social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, birth dates and other personal information that could potentially be used for identity theft were resting in plain view behind the store’s back door.
The Union-Recorder investigated the tip and discovered multiple applications for credit that had been declined as well as other documents in a large pile of trash discarded by employees late last week.
Listed on each application is a social security number for the applicant, an applicant’s driver’s license and state number,
employer, work history, phone number, home address, date of birth, city of origin, and in some cases an applicant’s nearest living relative and his or her phone number and home address.
A closer inspection of boxes left behind the building found other examples of personal information, including an employee file from a Georgia College & State University student that was an employee at the store.
In that particular instance the student’s class schedule, home phone number and address were visible while a photocopy of her driver’s license and social security card were discovered on a back page.
Milledgeville resident Rosalyn Mullis was not a Friedman’s customer, but was among a handful of individuals who witnessed the pile of trash and debris behind the building on Thursday and decided to take a closer look.
“I was appalled at what I saw. There was just a lack of regard for information. When people applied for a job there, they trusted this company,” Mullis said. “It may not be criminal, but it’s certainly not ethical. I think it was just irresponsible.”
The Union-Recorder was able to notify both the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office and the Milledgeville Police Department of the documents.
A Milledgeville police officer visited the site at least twice on Thursday and removed documents from the scene at least once.
“Identity theft is hard all over the country and I would suspect that this city is not immune,” Milledgeville Deputy Police Chief Richard Malone said. “To prevent victims of that type of crime, people have to destroy these type of records.”
By Thursday afternoon officials with the local Friedman’s store had been notified of the documents and had moved the pile of trash and debris into a nearby dumpster.
When approached for comments, the store manager refused to provide any information on policies or procedures in place regarding personal documents.
The documents had been outside the store for several days and were supposed to have been removed by Sinclair Disposal Service last week, according to the manager.
Chief Malone informed The Union-Recorder around 5 p.m. Thursday evening that the documents obtained from the Friedman’s site by the Milledgeville Police Department had been turned over to Friedman’s employees.
“You really don’t want to have any of that information like that out there these days, especially with the availability of the Internet,” Baldwin County Detective Chris Spires said.
A visit to Friedman’s Web site at www.friedmans.com under the ‘Contact Us’ link states “We are dedicated to keeping your personal account information secure and confidential. In order to protect against unauthorized access to your account, we therefore will not provide credit account information or answer any question regarding your credit account through e-mail.”
Attempts to contact the Friedman’s home office in Addision, Texas, were unsuccessful Thursday.

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