Office manager charged with stealing retired doctor's identity

Police arrested the former office manager of Summit Green Medical Center in Elgin Tuesday, accusing him of stealing his old boss's identity to get a credit card, police said.

Angel L. Castro, 46, of 2798 Impressions Drive, Lake in the Hills, was charged in court Wednesday with aggravated identity theft, police said.

Elgin police received a call on Aug. 8 from a detective in Loudoun County, Va., that a retired doctor, formerly of Elgin, had been receiving notices from collection agencies to pay for bills he hadn't created.

One was for computers he didn't buy and one bill was for $7,189.96.

Someone had used the doctor's name, Social Security number and his mother's maiden name to obtain a credit card on May 2, 2006, which was not used until April 2 at an auto dealership in Elgin for service work done on a 2005 Mazda, according to authorities.

When Elgin police talked to the doctor, who now lives in Virginia, he said he began to suspect that the identity thief was his former office manager, police said.

When police called Castro in for an interview and asked him about the credit card, he asked for an attorney.

Police say they also connected him to the identity theft through a store receipt and a bank deposit receipt.

"The nature of the charge is one of the more serious crimes," Kane County Judge Kevin Busch told Castro at his bond hearing Wednesday. "It is hard to imagine the havoc it wreaks on the victim."

Castro posted a $5,000 bond Wednesday morning and was released from custody.

He is scheduled to appear in court again on Oct. 3 at the Kane County Judicial Center.