Ex-Colonial Penn worker indicted in ID thefts

A former Philadelphia insurance company employee has been indicted on bank-fraud and identity-theft charges in connection with a "check runner" scheme that stole the personal information of 120 customers of Colonial Penn Insurance Co., authorities announced yesterday.

Lisa Bryant Nelson, 37, who worked at Colonial Penn's Old City headquarters, provided the stolen information between August 2007 and August 2008 to a coconspirator who printed bogus checks and created fake photo identifications in the customers' names, acting U.S. Attorney Laurie Magid said.

Using the documents, other individuals cashed more than $157,000 worth of the bogus checks before agents from the U.S. Postal Service and the Secret Service shut down the scheme. - Sam Wood