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Chris Wening has gone through two paper shredders in his attempt to keep his identity and personal information safe, but when he got a call about a suspicious order at a retail store in California, he realized he had been taken advantage of despite his precautions.

Wening, a retired Steamboat Springs resident, said that when he got a call informing him that his order was ready to pick up, from a chain home improvement store in California he had never visited, he jumped into action.

That was in April. On Wednesday, after months of investigation by the Steamboat Springs Police Department and months of credit monitoring by Wening, a suspect in the case appeared in Routt County Court.

Lawrence Lee Chiles, 66, is accused of using Wening's driver's license number and his Social Security number to open store accounts and place orders in California.

After hearing that an order in Wening's name for several thousand dollars worth of goods was ready to be picked up, Wening immediately got on the phone and started the process of notifying all the credit card agencies he uses, the three credit bureaus and local police.

It took Wening 60 to 80 hours to file all the reports and put the credit locks on his accounts.

"We've always been real careful about shredding data," he said. "You don't leave that information around, especially Social Security numbers."

As he notified each of the credit agencies and the companies where the orders were placed, eventually all of the charges were reversed. The only out-of-pocket expenses he ended up paying were several hundred dollars of postage, as he express-mailed documents back and forth with credit bureaus and other agencies. But the hit he could take from a dropping credit score is unclear.

Wening said his score dropped by 30 points after he asked for restrictions blocking routine credit inquiries and that during the process of shoring up his credit he missed the opportunity to refinance his home at a lower rate, costing him about $200 a month.

"It can beat you up financially," Wening said.

Linda Foley, co-founder of the Identity Theft Resource Center in San Diego, said it's routine for credit scores to drop temporarily as a result of identity theft but that it should not be a long-term problem for Wening.

"That's the purpose of sending a police report to the credit card (companies)," she said.

She said because of the cycles that credit card companies and credit bureaus use, it may take a couple of weeks for the information about an identity theft to clear and restore credit to normal.

"In fact, if this is a smart credit company, they should see this is a smart consumer and value them more highly, because they don't want fraud loss, either," she said.

Fast response

Wening said he was luckier than most because the phone call from the California home improvement store alerted him about the fraud early. Wening said that after he put the alerts in place, he was told that someone tried to open store accounts using his identity six or seven more times, each time thwarted by the blocks the credit bureaus had set up.

If the store hadn't called him about a backorder that arrived, he would not have known about the fraud until the next billing cycle, he said.

Steamboat Springs police Investigator Nick Bosick used video surveillance to identify the man suspected of using Wening's identity.

Working with a Fresno County Sheriff's Office detective, the officers identified Lawrence Lee Chiles as a suspect and brought him to Routt County to stand trial. Chiles, in a wheelchair and using an oxygen tank, made an appearance Wednesday. The case was continued to a later date.

Wening said his primary goal is to figure out how his information could have been accessed and whether anyone else has the data.

"This may not be the only Chris Wening out there," said Chris' wife, Jamey Wening. "You don't know, a week from now or a month from now another Chris Wening can pop up."

Along with getting a new driver's license, putting a block on his credit inquiries, and putting fraud alert protection in place for seven years, Chris Wening said he will continue to watch his credit score and credit cards for the rest of his life.

Chris and Jamey Wening said they were overwhelmed with the number of resources available to them as they figured out how to respond to the fraud.

Chris Wening completed all the steps suggested by Foley, from the Identity Theft Resource Center. Foley suggests an identity theft victim should: notify the police, get a new driver's license number and keep tabs on credit.

Chis Wening said although the ordeal has been time-consuming and stressful, he's glad it happened at a time in his life when he could devote the time to fixing it.

"I take it personally," he said.