Prosecutors have charged two New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission employees with selling names, addresses, birthdates and Social Security numbers of "unsuspecting residents" for as little as $200 per identity. The same investigation conducted by the Mercer County Prosecutor's Economic Crime Unit in Trenton led to charges against two non-government workers who allegedly used their jobs in a tax office and realty company to sell identities as part of a similar scheme.

The prosecutor's office announced the identity theft charges last week. "In April 2011, the prosecutor’s ECU received information regarding allegations of identity theft involving a state government employee," the prosecutor's office said in a statement. "Further investigation uncovered that two employees of the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission were providing the names, addresses, dates of birth and social security numbers of unsuspecting residents that they obtained through their employment. They were charging as little as $200 per identity."

The state employees, 28-year-old Sherilyn Rivera and 31-year-old Johnny Semmon, were arrested and charged with official misconduct, bribery and identity theft. They each face up to 10 years in state prison and five years without parole eligibility if found guilty.

Prosecutors also charged 37-year-old Lee Daniel Roberts, a tax preparer in Trenton, and 55-year-old Abdulah Sumo of Willingboro, New Jersey, an employee of a realty company, with identity theft and trafficking in personal identifying information. "Both men were selling the names, addresses, dates of birth, social security numbers and credit history reports of victims obtained through their respective jobs," the prosecutor's office alleged. A search of Sumo's vehicle in June found personal records of more than 60 people. Both Roberts and Sumo are free on bail, but face the same potential sentence as the government workers if convicted.

The prosecutor's office did not say who bought the identities or how they were used, but said the investigation is continuing. Risk of identity theft is becoming a distressingly common aspect of life in the digital age. Sony was forced to offer identity theft protection after its PlayStation Network was hacked earlier this year, and something as simple as a stolen or lost laptop can put personal information at risk as well. The New Jersey charges are troubling because they involve government employees selling data they have access to on a daily basis, and make us wonder how widespread this type of abuse is.