ALBANY — Melody B. Milton, an Albany nurse, is accused of helping in a scheme in which the identities of area people were stolen and used to acquire more than $1.1 million through the filing of false tax returns, according to the U.S. Secret Service.

Secret Service officials, in an affadavit attached to a criminal complaint against Milton, said that about 50 pieces of mail addressed to other people were sent from the U.S. Treasury or Internal Revenue Service to an Albany post office box rented by Milton, who also is known as Melody B. Greene.

The affidavit filed by Secret Service Senior Special Agent James M. Maddux states that an individual whose name was redacted from the document deposited about 200 U.S. Treasury checks totaling $1.1 million into an Albany bank account last December.

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Milton is accused of fraud in violation of Title 18 of the U.S. Code. She worked for Phoebe Home Health, but has been fired by Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital, according to a statement from Brad Halford, the hospital’s executive vice president and chief compliance officer.

“Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital is conducting an internal investigation in relation to a former employee charged with tax fraud, as well as implications involving a stolen laptop computer. The employee charged with tax fraud has been terminated. Phoebe officials believe the two cases are separate and unrelated, but are conducting a thorough internal investigation in cooperation with the Secret Service and U.S. Attorney’s Office on the tax fraud case,” the statement says.

“Individuals whose names and other personal information were stored in the stolen laptop will be contacted,” the hospital statement said. “At this time, there is no reason to believe that any personal information stored on the stolen laptop has been accessed. We take the protection of privacy and patient confidentiality seriously and we are following all state and federal laws and regulations in notifying any individuals potentially impacted by these events.”

Maddux, in his affadavit, said Milton was part of a scheme in which thieves used the personal information of other people to file false tax returns using the popular tax preparation software TurboTax so that the checks were sent to the same post office box.

Maddux wrote that federal agents observed Milton retrieve the checks from the post office box and then followed her to her office on 14th Avenue. The average amount of the refunds in the checks sent to Milton’s post office box was $9,500, Maddux wrote.

Maddux did not say that the identity theft victims in the case were patients of Milton, but he did note that medical patients were a common target in such fraud schemes.

During the course of my investigation involving TurboTax fraud, numerous confidential sources, and cooperating defendants informed me that individuals who work in the medical field are often involved in this type of fraud because they have easy access to patient names, SSN’s and other personal I.D. data from their medical charts and files,” he wrote.

Milton opened a bank account as sole proprietor of “Quick Cash Check Cashing,” a business that Maddux said he had probable cause to believe was a “shell” company for “the deposit of fraudulently obtained tax refunds.”

When federal agents attempted to install a tracking device and transmitter on Milton’s vehicle, she spotted the agents, who then asked her to come with them for questioning, the affidavit states. It was then that she reportedly admitted to her involvement in the “Turbo fraud,” and promised to help federal agents “get the people involved in the scheme.”

Maddux wrote that about 50 envelopes believed to have contained fraudulent tax refund checks from the U.S. Treasury were delivered to Milton’s post office box. Thirty-six envelopes were unopened and 14 were photocopied by the post office and then delivered to the mail box. “These approximate 14 items are believed to have been picked up by Milton,” Maddux wrote.

According information from the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office, Milton was given a license as a registered nurse in 2002 and has no record of disciplinary action.

Additional information on the case and Milton remained under seal Monday, but, according to federal records, Milton is involved in a pending bankruptcy case from 2010 — her third bankruptcy case filed in federal court since 2006. The other two cases were dismissed after she was unable to fund them, a letter states.

In Georgia state courts, Melody Greene was charged with a misdemeanor count of fraud in obtaining public assistance when it was alleged that she obtained $437 in food stamps and an undisclosed amount of TANF benefits that prosecutors contended she wasn’t entitled to, according to court records.

In an agreement with then-District Attorney Ken Hodges, Greene was to repay the money and be suspended from receiving additional food stamp benefits for one year, court documents show.

Sheriff’s deputies uncovered a large identity theft operation while investigating a report of drug dealing at a Rancho Cucamonga hotel room Sunday.

The manager of the Four Points By Sheraton hotel at 11960 Foothill Blvd. called the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department to report someone selling drugs in a room.

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Deputies arrived and found Jeffery Wilkinson, 35, who had an arrest warrant and drugs in his possession, said sheriff’s Sgt. Ken Jamieson. Deputies searched the room and found methamphetamine and numerous credit cards belonging to other people.

They also discovered various items indicating Wilkinson and two others were involved in a large-scale identity theft ring, Jamieson said. Deputies arrested Wilkinson, as well as Barbara Brown, 32, and Lake Elsinore resident Shahin Abdollahi, 46.

More criminals are stealing Mississippians’ good names.

Identity theft is on the rise, as the state jumped to 17th in the nation last year in the number of identity theft complaints per 100,000 population, according to figures released this year by the Federal Trade Commission.

Five years ago, the state was ranked 32nd, according to FTC figures.

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“Over the last few years, we have seen identity theft become a major contributor to our overall criminal caseload,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Gilbert, who handles such cases. “The problem has become so widespread that several different federal agencies have made identity theft detection and investigation a top priority.”

The FTC, the Secret Service, the U.S. Postal Service, IRS, state and local agencies all are working on identity theft cases in the state.

In the few months in which he has been handling identity theft cases, Gilbert said, “It is staggering to me to see just how much identity theft is occurring.”

Recently in Hinds County Circuit Court, a Jackson woman pleaded guilty to using 15 credit cards she obtained in the victim’s name.

Dimples Robinson, who has used the aliases Dimples Collins, Denise Robinson, D. Ebony Robinson and Shorty Robinson, was sentenced to serve five years in prison and must pay $102,100.60 in restitution.

“The victim in the case was able to clean up most of her credit after much effort, but her ability to obtain a decent mortgage on her home was hindered by this defendant,” Attorney General Jim Hood said.

In Madison County, Charmaine Kelly, 31, of Clinton was sentenced to serve 10 years in prison and ordered to pay restitution of $800. Kelly’s victim was a quadriplegic to whom she had been a caregiver.

The ease at which identity theft can be accomplished and a once slumping economy contribute to the rising crime, authorities say.

“One factor that I think heavily contributes is how easy it has become for people to use personally identifiable information (PII) once they obtain it,” Gilbert said. “We routinely find people with boxes full of “blank” credit, debit, or stored value cards (such as gift cards), as well as the equipment to load PII onto those cards. It’s also very easy to use someone’s PII to obtain a loan or get a credit card by applying online. The hard part is getting the PII, the easy part is putting it to an illicit use.”

About a fourth of all identity theft complaints came from the Jackson Metropolitan area, according to the latest figures.

In 2007, the Jackson metro area wasn’t ranked in the top 50 in identity theft complaints. Last year, it ranked 31st.

One recent case in Jackson falls into what Gilbert calls the unsophisticated category. A person’s identity was stolen from checking information given to a parking attendant at Blair E. Batson’s Children Hospital.

Timothy McGee and Robert McCullum allegedly used the account numbers to create fake checks that were used to buy goods in Alabama and Mississippi. They are under federal indictment on conspiracy, bank fraud and identity theft charges.

The University of Mississippi Medical Center said it cooperated with the task force investigating the case.

A cashier or teller using a hand-held device to copy a person’s debit card information is a sophisticated method of identity theft, Gilbert said.

Also, he said there have been cases where criminals have gotten their hands on a credit card machine and used it to turn out phony charges on unsuspecting individuals’ accounts.

One such case turned up last month in Flowood, where four women are accused of making their own credit cards and using someone else’s information.

“You normally hear of someone stealing credit or debit card information,” Flowood Police Lt. Ricky McMillian said. “This is a unique case. It was unreal.”

The women, whose names were not immediately available, used the fictitious credit cards to purchase items at Flowood businesses, McMillian said.

The credit card machine was confiscated from a room at a Jackson Sleep Inn Hotel, McMillian said.

Allen Bryant, resident agent in charge of the Jackson Secret Service office, said a good rule is to check credit reports annually. A credit report is likely the first place to learn if your identity has been stolen, he said.

Having your identity stolen can be a harrowing experience. Jackson businesswoman Susan Lunardini knows first hand.

Several years ago, her and her husband’s office was broken into and checks stolen. More than $20,000 in phony checks were written on the account and a phony account was opened in her name.

“It was a nightmare,” Lunardini said. “I dealt with this for a year.”