When Joe Ryan received a $44,000 medical bill in the mail, he thought it was a scam.
But when he went to Littleton Adventist Hospital to ask why a collection company sent him the bill, the 59-year-old Vail businessman saw a 3-inch file with his name on it detailing a surgery he never had.
“I told them it wasn’t me, I’d take off my clothes and show them that I had no scars whatsoever,” Ryan said.
Ryan was the victim of identify theft by a man who later claimed he had no other way to get the medical care he needed.
Pam Dixon, executive director of the World Privacy Forum in San Diego, said Ryan’s story sounds familiar, and her nonprofit is preparing to publish a study on its rise nationwide.
In Colorado, Dave Nyburg, a senior vice president at Centura Health, says the company sees about 15 such cases at its six Denver-area hospitals each year. Littleton Adventist is one of those hospitals.
Arapahoe County district attorney’s spokeswoman Kathleen Walsh said investigators believe the man who used Ryan’s identity for the surgery was 55-year-old Joseph Henslik. Henslik, who died in December, had been in and out of county jails on fraud, forgery and other charges.
According to an Arapahoe County search warrant, Henslik needed surgery for the treatment of “anal and rectal abscesses.” He suffered from cirrhosis of the liver and diabetes, according to the warrant.
Ryan reported the crime to Littleton police in 2004. Later that year, a Littleton police detective received a phone message from a person now believed to be Henslik. The caller said he was sorry: “All I can tell you is that I was dying … and I had to get in the hospital … but I had no insurance.”
Henslik died of liver disease at Denver Health Medical Center in December.
As for the $44,000 bill Ryan received, the hospital wrote off the charges.
However, Ryan still has problems stemming from other medical bills connected to the case, including X-rays and medical charges that eventually showed up on his credit report.
Ryan told 9News his business, Rocky Mountain BiPlane Adventures, has been hurt because of a drop in his credit score.
“This guy was a convicted felon; he was a low-life,” Ryan said.
Nicole Vap and Chip Yost can be reached at 303-871-1491. Watch another 9News report on identity theft at 5 p.m. today.
