TV Exclusive: Identity Theft Victim Of Pa. Runaway Mom Speaks Out
By Jenn Bernstein
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - We are continuing to learn more details about Brenda Heist's life in Florida.
Heike Farmer didn't hesitate to use a woman known as "Lovie Smith" to clean her home back in July of 2011.
The recommendation came from her own mother, who used "Lovie" every week.
She was recovering from shoulder surgery, when Heist came to clean. Farmer remembers taking out cash for Heist.
"I was sort of out of it still and I laid my license down with the cash, I never knew that my license disappeared until a day later I was looking for it, and I just thought I'd lost it," said Farmer.
More than a year later, Farmer received a ticket in the mail for a traffic infraction she was never involved in.
"I called the police who gave me all the details saying you got stopped on Pensacola Bay Bridge, you were driving a red vehicle," said Farmer, "I was like man that's not me. And that's when I realized my license had been stolen."
Farmer was now on a search with police, to figure out who took her license.
She hadn't used "Lovie" to clean her home again, but "Lovie" continued to work for Farmer's mother.
A conversation Farmer had about her stolen ID, while "Lovie" was cleaning, still sticks in her mind,
"I told my mom, you know, I have a cop friend, I'm going to get to the bottom of it," said Farmer "well Lovie had over heard all of that, so she calls my mom the next day and says look I can't clean your house anymore, I've been diagnosed with cancer. I'm going to have to go and get treatment, and that's the last we ever heard of her or saw of her."
Heike put everything together when she saw the cell phone given on the police report, and matched that of her former housekeeper's.
"It was one in the same, and by golly I realized it was Lovie who took my license!" said Farmer.
At that point, "Lovie Smith" disappeared, knowing the police and Farmer could be on to her.
"They eventually, did put out a warrant for her arrest, because she was using my name fraudulently," said Farmer.
According to court records, Heist was arrested and convicted of felony forgery and theft.
Farmer says she was shocked when "Lovie Smith's" picture showed up on national TV this past week, as Brenda Heist.
"I almost fell out of my chair, I had no idea but I'm comparing the mug shots because I had the mug shot when she was arrested from what she'd done to me," said Farmer, "and I kept comparing it back and forth saying it's gotta be her!"
