This web page contains dialog between me and the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV). Because of ID theft, the BMV published records to the National Driver Register (NDR) in Washington, D.C. telling the whole country that I have a suspended driver's license in Indiana when, in fact, I have never applied for a license nor ever even lived in Indiana. While I can understand how this error was made initially, once the error was brought to Indiana BMV's attention by the Indiana State Police 4 years earlier, they took no action to correct their mistake.

I discovered this problem when I tried to renew my driver's license in February 2005 and was refused. The reason was that those bogus records were still lingering in the NDR and my own state was powerless to issue a license. I actively worked to try to get this corrected, only to be told "there's nothing we can do" and that if I want to have the records corrected, I "will have to get a court order." After trying to discuss the matter with a number of folks in the BMV and other state and federal agencies, I sent a letter to several Indiana Senators and addressed to the people of Indiana. In response, the Indiana BMV issued a letter to me with wildly exaggerated claims and a threat to prosecute me!

Facts you might want to know:

• Indiana BMV knew about this issue since at least January 2002, perhaps earlier
• Indiana issued three different ID cards bearing my name and using my social security number to different people, photographing each of those people with each issuance. (Wasn't the first mistake enough?!?)
• Indiana knew without a doubt that the records they have on file bearing my social security number are not mine, but they refused to correct the problem
• These records put me at risk of being arrested on a daily basis for "driving with a suspended driver's license" (which isn't even mine)
• The law that normally gives a state agency authority to publish records related to those with suspended driver's licenses is 49 USC § 30304, but limits such publication to those who have a suspended license "for cause". In my case, Indiana has no "cause".
• The officials at the National Driver Register contacted Indiana and advised them that they are not publishing records in the spirit of the law and Indiana ignored them.
• I have never lived in Indiana nor applied for any kind of state ID there

I have been trying to get this problem corrected and Indiana absolutely refuses. In fact, rather than try to correct the problem, Indiana is now threatening me with legal action! Their actions are entirely illogical.

I hope this page might bring to light some very serious issues with the Indiana BMV and raise awareness to the harm that one single state agency can bring to an innocent citizen here in the United States.

• 2005-02-03 - Letter to the Commissioner, Joel Silverman
• 2005-02-03 - Letter to the BMV (at their request)
• 2005-02-08 - Letter from BMV admitting their records are wrong (sort of)
• 2005-02-22 - Follow-up requesting correction to records (no reply)
• 2005-04-19 - Follow-up requesting correction to records (no reply)
• 2005-06-14 - Contacted the Social Security Administration (not helpful)
• 2005-07-22 - Called the Hamilton Country, Indiana Prosecutor's office and was promised an investigation. I called several times during the period from July to the end of October with no results. I was only able to practice the skill of leaving voice mail.
• 2005-10-31 - Wrote a letter to the Hamilton County, Indiana Court (no reply)
• 2006-01-03 - Wrote a letter to the FTC (not helpful)
• 2006-01-06 - Wrote my congressman, David Price. He sent a letter and Silverman's people wrote a nasty response to him and me (see the letter dated 2006-01-26 below).
• 2006-01-22 - Letter to the people of Indiana
• 2006-01-26 - Nasty response from the BMV (with false claims)
• 2006-01-31 - My response to the above letter
• 2006-08-16 - Letter to Governor Daniels
• 2006-09-18 - Received no reply, so I sent the above message again (no reply)
• 2006-10-16 - Joel Silverman resigns under pressure from citizens
• 2006-10-22 - Wrote a letter to the new commissioner, Ronald L. Stiver (no reply)
• 2006-10-?? - Contacted the US Department of Justice (DOJ)
• 2006-10-27 - DOJ referred my letter to Department of Transportation (DOT)
• 2006-11-16 - DOT said to "take it up with Indiana"
• 2006-12-01 - Wrote to DOT to explain that I have and need help (no reply)
• 2006-12-03 - Sent an e-mail to the Hamilton County Court (no reply)
• 2007-01-16 - Called the Hamilton Country, Indiana Prosecutor's office and talked to a person who seemed interested to help. I was asked to leave a voicemail for a lady in the office.
• 2007-01-18 - The prosecutor's office called me back to tell me that the prosecutor on the original case had drafted a letter to be sent to the court to request that the bogus suspended driver's license issue be corrected.
• 2007-01-19 - I received a copy of the aforementioned letter
• 2007-01-19 - The court issued an order to the BMV to lift the suspension they have on 'my' license
• 2007-05-01 - I discovered that the BMV had not taken any action as directed by the court order. I contacted the BMV. So, I contacted BMV and was told they would follow-up with the right folks in legal.
• 2007-06-04 - I called the BMV again and was told 1) the order was not "proper" and that 2) the message was passed along to Anita Harden, who is an attorney for the BMV. I talked to Anita, but she did not have an answer to my questions. She seemed to prefer to ignore me, but she did promise to get back to me. (never did)
• 2007-07-17 - I called and left voicemail for Anita
• 2007-07-27 - I called and left voicemail for Anita
• 2007-07-27 - I called the Hamilton County prosecutors office and, at their advise, the Superior Court. I was advised to write a letter to the judge directly
• 2007-07-30 - I wrote a letter to the judge as suggested
• 2007-08-16 - The judge in Hamilton County submitted an amended order to get my driving record corrected
• 2007-10-24 - I contacted the legal department of the BMV to inquire about the status of the court order.
• 2007-10-30 - The BMV returned my call and said that, since I had asked the ALCU to assist me, they could not talk to me! I am required to communicate only through the ALCU attorney!
• 2007-11-02 - I contacted the National Driver Register in Washington, DC and discovered that my driver's license has been marked as "eligible"! Finally! It is over. (Well, mostly. The BMV still has the bogus records on file and refuses to remove them, but at least Indiana is not telling the country that I have a suspended driver's license.)