By Matt Sepic, KWMU
St. Louis, MO. – A federal grand jury in St. Louis has indicted a former Red Cross employee for alleged identity theft.
Authorities say Lonnetta Medcalf worked at the Central West End office from October until March, when she was fired.
The indictment says Medcalf took the names and Social Security numbers of three people in a database of blood donors and used that information to obtain fraudulent credit cards.
Spokesman Jim Williams says the Red Cross sent letters to 8-thousand potential victims in March. But he says officials later realized there could be more.
"The reason we sent it to 8,000 is because that's what her database was. That's who she was supposed to call. Then we found out later through our investigation that it could have been anyone in our entire donor system," Williams said. "And we're going to the media because that's the quickest way to notify people."
Williams says the Red Cross will pay for a credit report for anyone who thinks they might be on the donor list.
Federal officials have also set up a toll-free number to report fraud. It is 1-866-908-7747.