Thursday, May 31, 2007

Donation Button Disclosure

OK, I feel a little weird about this, but I'm doing it anyway. I really intended to take care of this problem myself. I talked to an attorney about this a year ago when I first found out that there were crimes on my record. He warned me back then that I would need legal help to get the crimes removed, but I naively assumed that I could work my way through the system and get it fixed. In a couple days it will be a full year since I found out what was going on, and to be honest I haven't really gotten anywhere.

Well, recently I've had several people encourage me to request financial assistance. A couple people commented that I should add a PayPal "Make Donations" button, and now I have. Until now I've declined everyone's offers for donations, but I've finally been convinced to swallow my pride and accept the help that others are offering. I sincerely appreciate all the kind words and moral support that everyone has given me so far. It's made me feel a lot better about the world to find out that so many people that don't even know me would be so caring.

One of the other reasons, besides my pride, that I didn't want to accept donations is I wanted to remain somewhat anonymous. I was kind of vague about the "local police department" because I didn't want to get into some kind of pissing contest with them over this story. Also, I was concerned about future customers/employers googling what I've written and not wanting to deal with me. But at this point I don't think that really matters.

If I'm going to accept donations I think people should know who I am. My name is Todd Fennell. I grew up in Blairstown, NJ and I currently live in Jacksonville Beach, FL. I've been programming computers as a hobby since my first Apple II+ computer in 1981. My career however was mostly tech support until 2000 when I took on a year-long programming project. Presently I own and maintain software I wrote that helps car dealerships manage their inventory--it's a little more complicated than that, but that's the simple explanation.

According to the Florida Department of Corrections and the New Jersey Department of Corrections, the guy that stole my identity is called Makenton Louis. He's also gone by the names Antoine Barzotti, Kevin Baker, and Louis Makenton in addition to my name. All I have figured out about him is that he was accused of assaulting some people in New Jersey in 1996 and was finally captured in Miami, FL in late 2003 after committing several crimes along the way. He was released from prison in late 2006. I don't know what he's up to now.

My goal is to clear my name and repair my credit as best I can. Some day I think I'd like to get my story published and hopefully help others that have something like this happen to them.

Next post: Another victim of the system

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I would gladly make a donation if I could but as I am a fellow victim of CIT (Criminal Identity Theft) I have no money to offer. I would like to suggest that you be careful when it comes to disseminating the name of the Criminal who has stolen your life. The reason I say this is because as I am sure you are already aware, the system is geared more to protect the CRIMINAL in the situation we are both in. I had to find out on my own who perpetrated the crimes because Law Enforcement (should be Law EnFARCEment)will not provide me with his identity even though I have obtained clearance through the Department of Justice (F.B.I.). Just be cautious. After the way I have been handled it would be no surprise to me if THE CRIMINAL was allowed to sue THE VICTIM (that's you) for slander or some other nonsense. Again, my wonderful experience with CIT is laid out in my blog at http://drewyoutoo.blogspot.com if you want to check it out.

Best of luck to us both my friend.