ELKHART — Police say they're seeing an increase in identity theft in our area. An Elkhart woman’s stolen identity was used to pay hospital bills in another state.

"It’s scary to me that this can be done, and at my age I don't need that kind of bills,” Sharon Dean told WSBT News.

Seventy-one-year-old Dean was a victim of identify theft. Someone ran up more than $2,600 in medical bills at a St. Louis hospital using her identity.

"And these bills are not mine, but they're all in my name with my address,” she told WSBT News. “[It make me] very angry.”

"This poor lady has never been to St. Louis, she is receiving these bills in Elkhart, Ind.,” said Elkhart Police Lt. Ed Windbigler.

Police say thieves are stealing identities to get jobs, pay utility bills and even buy items on the Internet.

“People have found ways of using other people’s identity, and I don't know if they feel it's not as bad because they're technically not going out and robbing somebody,” Windbigler said. “But they're still taking money out of somebody's pocket by using their identity."

ID theft can be done through the efforts of one person, or many. In the last couple of years, Elkhart police have busted five different labs making counterfeit IDs with stolen personal information — information that can be used to make bogus IDs, driver licenses, or social security cards.

"It could be where they're stealing trash, or people are not shredding their documents,” explained Elkhart Police Detective Crystal Garcia. “They're doing trash pulls, and they can use that over the Internet. Someone may get a hold of your information and they will sell that to ten different people."

Elkhart police recently arrested one man for using someone else's ID to work at a local job. They found that he had been a police officer in Mexico for ten years prior to coming to the U.S.