We've seen all sorts of stories about identity fraud and how it really is a pretty horrible crime - one where the victims are often left entirely on their own to unravel the resulting mess. However, there are times where things get even more ridiculous. Mitch Wagner points us to a case where a woman who had her identity used by a petty crook/coke addict was picked up by the police, believing she was the scammer, leading to this victim of identity fraud being jailed, strip-searched and de-loused, until she finally convinced police to look at a photo of the actual crook. Even then, they kept her in jail for an additional 24-hours.

And, now, the police responsible have added insult to injury. After the woman sued the police over this, she was told that that she should thank the police for realizing their mistake. I'm not joking:

"Instead of suing Seminole, Shields should thank its employees for "doing a great job," discovering the error and turning their findings over to a judge, who ordered her release April 25, 2002, the day after her arrest," [Defense attorney Tom] Poulton said.