She was taken from her California home in handcuffs, because Colorado prosecutors called her a criminal. And now she's filing a lawsuit. She was a bank vice president who never committed a crime in her life.
But everything changed, the day someone bumped into her on a San Francisco street car and stole her wallet.
Within months, she found herself in the fight of her life over crimes that someone else was committing.
"No matter what I did they just kept coming back and coming back and thinking I did it," said Margot Somerville about police actions in the case.
Somerville's been in a three year battle with the Wheat Ridge Police Department and Jefferson County District Attorney's Office, that's cost her 50 thousand dollars in legal fees and endless nightmares.
After thieves stole her identity and passed about 50 thousand dollars in bad checks, mostly at a Wheat Ridge Wells Fargo and police charged her with the crimes.
"I thought I was helping them so I showed them and told them everything that I could to help them catch the person who had taken my money," Somerville told us.
"This type of crime can happen to anybody," said Somerville's attorney Karen Steinhauser.
Steinhauser's a former Denver prosecutor who says the case should never have been filed.
Especially since police had evidence like pictures of this woman using Somerville's forged ID to cash forged checks.
"Innocent people can be charged with and accused of committing a very serious crime, even though they've done everything right," said Steinhauser.
"I was taken out in handcuffs in front of all my neighbors and put into a police car," said Somerville.
"I was scared beyond belief, I couldn't believe it was happening," she added.
Jeffco recently dropped the charges saying they couldn't likely win a conviction.
And because she's now suing, neither Jeffco nor Wheat Ridge could comment on the case except to say it's still under investigation.
She actually worked for Wells Fargo for 25 years and says the bank has now returned some of the money that was stolen from her own personal account.
But she can't understand why she was ever prosecuted when she was the victim all along.
If you think you're the victim of identity thieves, there are four steps you should take immediately:
Put a fraud alert on your credit reports.
Close all the accounts you believe have been compromised.
Contact your local police and file an identity theft report.
File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, which you can do on their website:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/
But everything changed, the day someone bumped into her on a San Francisco street car and stole her wallet.
Within months, she found herself in the fight of her life over crimes that someone else was committing.
"No matter what I did they just kept coming back and coming back and thinking I did it," said Margot Somerville about police actions in the case.
Somerville's been in a three year battle with the Wheat Ridge Police Department and Jefferson County District Attorney's Office, that's cost her 50 thousand dollars in legal fees and endless nightmares.
After thieves stole her identity and passed about 50 thousand dollars in bad checks, mostly at a Wheat Ridge Wells Fargo and police charged her with the crimes.
"I thought I was helping them so I showed them and told them everything that I could to help them catch the person who had taken my money," Somerville told us.
"This type of crime can happen to anybody," said Somerville's attorney Karen Steinhauser.
Steinhauser's a former Denver prosecutor who says the case should never have been filed.
Especially since police had evidence like pictures of this woman using Somerville's forged ID to cash forged checks.
"Innocent people can be charged with and accused of committing a very serious crime, even though they've done everything right," said Steinhauser.
"I was taken out in handcuffs in front of all my neighbors and put into a police car," said Somerville.
"I was scared beyond belief, I couldn't believe it was happening," she added.
Jeffco recently dropped the charges saying they couldn't likely win a conviction.
And because she's now suing, neither Jeffco nor Wheat Ridge could comment on the case except to say it's still under investigation.
She actually worked for Wells Fargo for 25 years and says the bank has now returned some of the money that was stolen from her own personal account.
But she can't understand why she was ever prosecuted when she was the victim all along.
If you think you're the victim of identity thieves, there are four steps you should take immediately:
Put a fraud alert on your credit reports.
Close all the accounts you believe have been compromised.
Contact your local police and file an identity theft report.
File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, which you can do on their website:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/
