Tenn. opens new unit to investigate identity theft

WKMS | By The Associated Press

Published August 29, 2012 at 7:49 AM CDT

Tennessee's safety department is creating a new unit that will investigate identity theft crimes local law enforcement agencies don't have the resources to target. Commissioner of Safety and Homeland Security Bill Gibbons announced Tuesday the 14-member unit would be made up of personnel from the Tennessee Highway Patrol, the state Office of Homeland Security and the Driver Services division. In addition, the unit will be working with the U.S. Secret Service in Memphis and Nashville, the federal Homeland Security Investigations department and the FBI's Memphis division. Gibbons says identity theft and fraud crimes are a growing problem in Tennessee, but many local law enforcement agencies don't have enough resources or manpower to investigate these crimes.

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Todd Hatton

Todd Hatton hails from Paducah, Kentucky, where he got into radio under the auspices of the late, great John Stewart of WKYX while a student at Paducah Community College. He also worked at WKMS in the reel-to-reel tape days of the early 1990s before running off first to San Francisco, then Orlando in search of something to do when he grew up. He received his MFA in Creative Writing at Murray State University. He vigorously resists adulthood and watches his wife, Angela Hatton, save the world one plastic bottle at a time.

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