Medical, credit files found in dumpster

ORLANDO, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - They were tossed out with the trash. Dozens of boxes filled with personal records turned up Sunday night in an Orlando dumpster.

A woman, who didn't want to reveal her name, found them behind a small office on Bumby Avenue near South Street. "I absolutely could not believe it. My heart sank," she said.

Orlando Police are investigating where the documents came from and what, if any, crime was committed. Police say it was a cleaning man who put the old records in the dumpster. But they still don't know how they ended up at the office, or who they belonged to.

The common link is a company called LV Financial Services but records and news reports confirm the collection agency went out of business five years ago.

A former lawyer for LV Financial says he hasn't heard from the owner, Edward Lopes, in three years. Lopes briefly tried running for mayor of Orlando in 2005.

The trashed records come mostly from medical offices that hired LV to collect on old unpaid bills. The files contain names, addresses, social security numbers, copies of drivers licenses and credit reports. It would have been an identity thief's dream.

Records from the Orlando dentist office of Dr. Murad Thakur were among the trashed files. He says he used the collection agency until around 2005 when the company went under.

"We couldn't find them anymore…suddenly disappeared and we have no contact, then we didn't have a way to find them," said Thakur, who was shocked when we told him the records turned up in a dumpster years later. "I was not very happy about that, but unfortunately when it happens its beyond our control."

It's still a mystery as to where the files have been for the last several years, and who may have had access to them.