It's unsettling -- scary, in fact. Hundreds of social security numbers and other personal information, sitting in a dumpster for anyone to find.
That's the discovery at a Clayton County dumpster that has the state consumer affairs office investigating. How could it happen?
The dumpster is under lock and key, but the files are long-gone. Officials were able to trace the files to a local staffing company, which now said it plans to warn hundreds of people their identities could be stolen.
The head of the Morrow office of a staffing company and several employees recovered hundreds of files from a dumpster Monday afternoon.
The files were full of employment applications containing sensitive personal information, including copies of social security cards and drivers licenses. Nothing was shredded.
"This is not how we operate, there was obviously a fluke somewhere," said Kimberley Singley of Invision HR/Acrux Staffing through tears. "And I truly and am sincerely sorry. It was not intentional, I can promise you."
Nick Campbell first discovered the files on Sunday behind the strip plaza where he works. He called 11Alive News, and in turn Morrow police were called. The police took the dumpster, with the files still inside, to the police station for safe-keeping.
The chief said he does plan to pursue criminal charges.
"We've researched the law and we've contacted the DA's office and the governor's office consumer affairs," said Morrow Police Chief Jeff Baker. "There's no crime in this case any more than there would be with a shredded credit card bill with information on it."
Singley said her office moved to a new location on Friday, but she left the files behind and planned to pick them up on Monday. She said she believes a cleaning crew hired by her leasing agent tossed out the files by mistake over the weekend.
"It's going to take us three or four or five days before we discover what applications are missing," said Singley.
Invision HR Staffing, which was purchased by Acrux Staffing is off the hook for any criminal charges, but the Governor's Office of Consumer Affairs has opened an investigation to see if the company violated the law regarding the disposal of business records. If so, it could face civil penalties.
