Pinellas County utilities worker charged with identity theft

A Pinellas County utilities employee was arrested today on a charge he stole his ex-wife's identity and used it to get satellite TV and dental care for his current girlfriend.

Scott M. Moore, 38, of Palm Harbor, faces one count of criminal use of personal information, Pinellas County sheriff's officials say.

Moore used the name and personal information of his ex-wife, 37-year-old Darlene Moore of Middleborough, Mass., during January and February of 2008 to obtain services from DirecTV, officials said. He also used his dental plan coverage, which was under his ex-wife's name, to have work done for his current girlfriend.

Darlene Moore contacted the Sheriff's Office on Feb. 26 after she began receiving bills from DirecTV and the dental office; and contacted the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, which began to investigate.

Moore, a utilities project inspector, was arrested about 8:30 a.m. at his job at the Pinellas County utilities general maintenance building on 142nd Avenue in Largo. He was booked into the Pinellas County Jail and is being held in lieu of $5,000 bail. Moore, who has worked for the county since August 2005, is paid $36,523 a year.

-- Times staff writer