Woman's stolen identity not easily restored

For more than four years, Terry Stornetta of Point Arena has lived in the shadow of an identity thief who racked up $28,000 in her name, took over her tax, credit and driver's license identities and left her with a criminal record.

"She was me," said Stornetta, who works for the Point Arena Unified School District and is married to a member of the Stornetta dairy family.

Her alleged copycat was finally apprehended in Riverside and brought to Mendocino County this week, but the woman was arrested and booked under Stornetta's maiden name, Siragusa, leaving Stornetta now with a criminal record to undo.

After she was booked, Elvia Avila Gomez admitted she's not really Theresa Siragusa, but it will take a judge's order to clear Stornetta's name from the jail's database.

Gomez, 61, remained in jail on $50,000 bail, listed as Siragusa. The district attorney has charged her with identity theft-related charges and a charge of illegally entering the United States.

Since 2004, Gomez allegedly used Stornetta's identity to obtain credit cards, buy a car, furniture and get $20,000 in medical care following a car accident. She also used it to get a job, leaving Stornetta to deal with the IRS, which sought back taxes from her.

Stornetta said she hasn't been forced to pay any of her identity thief's bills, but she's continually had to prove she didn't incur the debts and she's been prevented from obtaining credit in her name.

She also had her driver's license suspended for six months while she proved to the Department of Motor Vehicles that she was, in fact, the real Terry Stornetta.

But what angered Stornetta the most was that the Southern California hospital where Gomez was treated sought and obtained payment in her name through a taxpayer-funded indigent fund, even after she told them it wasn't her.

"I do not want anyone to pay her bills under my name," she said.

Stornetta first caught wind that someone was using her identity in 2004, when credit card companies sought to collect money on bills she hadn't incurred.

At first, the fraud was more of a nuisance, but when her driver's license was suspended in 2005, she said she got scared.

"To me, it started getting serious," Stornetta said.

Stornetta said she had filed several fraud reports with the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office to satisfy creditors, but after the driver's license ordeal, she wanted the woman stopped.

It would not prove easy.

Mendocino County authorities obtained a photo and address from DMV of the woman allegedly using Stornetta's maiden name and sent that and other information on Stornetta's case to the Riverside Police Department in 2006, said Sheriff's Lt. Dennis Bushnell.

But the case languished, Stornetta said. She said police told her it wasn't a priority.

In early 2007, she asked Mendocino County deputies to intercede, and they took on the case after the District Attorney's Office agreed to prosecute, even though the alleged crimes occurred in another county.

A warrant was issued in May but was not served until this month, following a phone call to Riverside authorities by Sheriff Tom Allman, who asked them to expedite the warrant, Bushnell said.

While the investigation dragged on, Stornetta said she couldn't resist dialing a phone number left on documents signed by her double.

"She asked, 'Who is this?' I said, 'I'm you,' " before quickly hanging up, Stornetta said.

Stornetta said she has no idea how Gomez obtained her personal information.

Bushnell said Gomez admitted buying Stornetta's information from someone in Los Angeles, probably shortly after entering the country illegally.

"I picture going down a dark alley, the guy in the raincoat asks, 'want a watch? want an ID card?' " he joked.

Stornetta said she's just glad Gomez was caught.

"I was told it was like finding a ghost," she said.

You can reach Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 462-6473 or glenda.anderson@

pressdemocrat.com.