Ex-clerk from Broward gets three years in ID theft case

Ex-clerk from Broward gets three years in ID theft case

A former employee of the Broward Clerk of Courts was sentenced Friday to three years and a day in federal prison after she pleaded guilty to federal identity theft charges.

Porscha Kyles, 25, has three months to surrender to begin serving her sentence.

Kyles, of Davie, worked for the Broward Clerk’s office from April 2008 until May 2012, when supervisors notices irregular activity with her use of a database of driver’s license information. Kyles worked at the public counter in the traffic and misdemeanor division at the courthouse in downtown Fort Lauderdale.

According to federal prosecutors, Kyles used her position to access the personal information of drivers, including Social Security numbers and dates of birth, which she would then sell to a man who intended to use the data in a tax refund scheme.

Prosecutors say she sold the information of more than 100 Florida drivers.

At the time of Kyles’ arrest last July, Broward Clerk of Courts Howard Forman said computer records showed Kyles searching for names at a pace that was too rapid for someone who was dealing with customers at her window one at a time. Some of the searches were mere seconds apart, and on several occasions she appeared to be searching for people who shared a last name or people whose names began with a particular letter, he said.

Kyles pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy, for which she was sentenced to a year and a day in prison, and one count of aggravated identity theft, for which she was sentenced to two years. Kyles will also serve two years of probation and will have to pay $57,328 in restitution.

Five other charges, including computer fraud and four identity theft charges, were dismissed as part of the plea deal, which was reached in October.

She also agreed to cooperate with federal investigators in other identity theft cases, even in an undercover capacity, if she’s asked.

A search of federal and Broward court records turned up no pending case against the man who allegedly bought the information from Kyles, identified in Kyles’ case file as Derek Denisevich.

According to a federal court filing, Kyles knew Denisevich planned to use the information she sold him to file unauthorized tax returns with the IRS and pocket the refunds.

The number of South Florida identity complaints doubled from 2011 to 2012, the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book reported last year.

Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties had 35,914 reports of identity theft in 2012 — or 645.4 complaints per 100,000 population, the FTC report said. In 2011, the number of reports was 17,546.

Legal Shred
11806 S US Hwy 41
Gibsonton, FL 33534
813-321-4507