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Samuel M. Jackson, of the Chicago area, already has it rough when it comes to name recognition.
But comparisons with the famous actor, Samuel L. Jackson, likely sounded wonderful to him after three other Samuel Jacksons got mixed up into his criminal background report. They're Samuel Jacksons all convicted of sex offenses, two of whom are currently in prison.
"He had a background check company that ran a background report that was grossly inaccurate. Almost laughably so if it wasn’t so outrageous," said attorney Chris Wilmes, who represented the job-seeking Jackson in a lawsuit against the background check company InfoTrack. "He had a background check report that suggested he was a serious, serious sex offender and that he had committed crimes that merited life in prison."
Wilmes said his client has no criminal record. His only fault? Having a common name.
Read original story, see video on NBCChicago.com
"People with common names -- there is a significant risk that they’re going to get a background check that has nothing to do with them that shows a criminal record that doesn’t exist. And it is going to harm them when they are trying to get employment," according to Paul Strauss of the Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, who also worked on the case against InfoTrack.
Samuel M. Jackson, the job-seeker, is white and was 26 years old when the background report was performed. The three Samuel Jacksons whose reports were attached to his name were all decades older, African-American convicted sex offenders, two of whom were currently in prison. One of them is incarcerated for a rape that occurred when the job-seeking Jackson was only four years old.
"He was outraged that a background check company would be that sloppy with something that important," Wilmes said of his client.
InfoTrack did not return calls for comment by publication time, but did settle the lawsuit with the job-seeking Samuel M. Jackson. InfoTrack settled for $35,000 and corrected Jackson’s record.
But another example has no such happy ending yet in sight.
In Milwaukee, 29-year-old Dennis Teague has a 13-page criminal background report, riddled with gun and drug offenses. But Dennis Teague has never been arrested and has no criminal record.
"Dennis has done nothing wrong. He’s done absolutely, positively nothing wrong," said his lawyer, Jeff Myer of Legal Action of Wisconsin.
So why does Teague have the record of a career criminal? It goes back at least seven years, when a second cousin who was wanted by law enforcement used Dennis’ name when stopped by police.
"I didn’t do anything wrong, and that’s what I don’t understand right now today. It’s not me, I’m not a felon," Teague says.
Teague, who has a college degree, says the name-based background report delivered to prospective employers by the state of Wisconsin is standing in the way of his employment. He says scores of interviews that seemed promising went nowhere, which didn’t make sense until he says he discovered the misleading records blended with his report.
Teague says he feels like a lifetime of making the right choices is being tossed out with the state’s refusal to disseminate his actual record, which should be "no record."
"I feel like I’m just thrown out. For one, you’ve got to think about: No employer has the time to read 13 pages. So, they probably won’t know to look and say, ‘This is identity theft. Somebody stole his name,'" he explained.
“It’s just wrong for the government to be lying about their citizens," said attorney Myer. "There's no question that an African- American male of Dennis' age who is looking for work, is seriously impacted when a criminal background check comes back and says anything other than "no record," and that's what Dennis is entitled to."
Teague is suing the state Department of Justice, asking that it change the way background information is disseminated, especially in the case of identity theft victims.
Wisconsin DoJ did not respond directly to NBC Chicago’s questions, but in court filings has said its system is based on the interests of law enforcement. If a citizen like Teague is impersonated by a criminal, who uses the clean name for an alias, police investigating a case may need to know that. It appears the state does not have a mechanism to produce one report for prospective employers, with a separate one for law enforcement.
A letter confirming his identity
In Illinois, an identity theft victim does have a mechanism that severs the thief’s record from his or hers. It is called the Criminal Identification Act.
Wisconsin did offer Teague a letter that confirms his identity is separate from that of his second cousin's, and that he has no criminal record. Teague said he can’t get far enough in an interview process to get much use of the letter.
"[Employers] don’t want to hear that. A lot of employees say, ’Oh, that wasn’t me, somebody used my name.’ They probably hear that all the time. But with me, it’s the truth," said Teague.
Experts say these kind of incidents point to the need for all consumers to read their own background reports. Federal law requires notification if a job-seeker is denied employment based on a negative background report, but industry observers point out it is often impossible to know if that happens as required.
Consumer rights are laid out in the Fair Credit Reporting Act , but many job-seekers have no idea to what they are entitled if a company orders a background report on them.
The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse publishes a “Jobseeker’s Guide” that lays out frequently asked questions about employment background checks.
An industry group that represents some background check companies also answers frequently asked questions on the topic on its website.
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It's those effin' snakes I tell you!
Or maybe it's English, and he doesn't speak it!
A legal name change is both cheap and easy.
Problem solved.
I think the issue here is clearly that the potential employers of Mr. Samuel (M) Jackson failed to speak English during the job interview process. Then when the interviewer got flustered and confused, and kept stammering "W...what??" Mr. Jackson, shouting, shook his crumpled resume at the interviewer and challenged him with a double-dare ultimatum to repeat that single phrase again, one more gosh darn time...
etc. etc.
I'm tired of these motherf----n' errors on this motherf----n' background check!!!
"A legal name change is both cheap and easy." And no background I am sure employers would not care that you just appeared on the planet. Sorry this degree is not in your name, why is that again?
No, it is not "problem solved" genius. It is also tied to your social security number, and that does not get changed when you change your name.
On another note, it probably did not help Mr. Jackson, that when he was in his interviews, when asked about his views on gun control, he would say, "AK-47. The very best there is. When you absolutely, positively, got to kill every mother****** in the room; accept no substitutes." (famous Sam L. Jackson from "Jackie Brown" :)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119396/quotes
I feel for him. There are 3 people in my little city with my name (117 in the state). One doesn't seem to pay any of his bills. I get calls from his creditors constantly.
in 1981 near Nanuet NY there was a armored car robbery in which 2 officers were killed. At the time I worked up there and unfortunately for me I bared a slight resemblance to one of the suspects. I must have been stopped six or seven times. In desperation I cobbled up a bumper sticker which read "it's not me!"
in 1981 near Nanuet NY there was a armored car robbery in which 2 officers were killed. At the time I worked up there and unfortunately for me I bared a slight resemblance to one of the suspects. I must have been stopped six or seven times. In desperation I cobbled up a bumper sticker which read "it's not me!"
This is what happens when you allow private agencies to gather information on US Citizens for the sole purpose of dispensing it for monetary gain.
The fourth Amendement has essentially been rendered useless. BIG Sigh.
How many occupations truly require a background check? I can see it for those who work around children, in a position of public trust, or required by law---but other han this, I would question the true reason employers are requesting such an extensive background check and how that information is disseminated, used or secured?!?
Our society keeps opening up Pandora's box and then gets all bent out of shape when its used against us...geesh.
I don't understand how this could happen. We all have social security numbers, and even if someone has the same name, he is not going to have the same social security number, so Mr. Jackson may win his lawsuit.
liv4luv, you would think that will be enough, but no. I have the same first name, and obviously the same last name, as my dad, even the same middle initial, although different middle name. When he went on bankruptcy, this would show up on my credit report. It didn't matter if we had different social security and different birth date obviously. It would show up on all three credit score reports. So, what I finally did was add a second last name. I think the people who enter the records into these databases might be on something, or I guess it can be blamed on the software they use.
Wonder if they will ever clear up Obama's Social Security Number mix up? Naw!
I also have a very common name and have run into a few issues because if it. One of them crops up when buying or selling a home. I usually get handed a long list of people with the same name and various outstanding debts and delinquencies. I then have to sign an affidavit that none of them are me in order to get through closing. In some was I think I am lucky because my name is so extremely common, that no one really questions any of it when I say these are not me. If my name was a little less common, I think there would be more scrutiny from the other side to make sure the deadbeats really were not me.
I would think that this guy Dennis Teague has a very good case since the state is basically knowingly sending out false information about him. There excuse that they can not generate a different report for employers doing a background check and la enforcement does not fly with me. They know that this is a case if identity theft and should not be sending the information about the ID thief's crimes out to a prospective employer of the real person. This seems to be just laziness on the part of the state to not fix a known problem. If they are willing to give him a letter saying that he has no record to hand to employers, it would seem that they should be able to send that same letter directly to employers when they request a background check instead of sending out the erroneous information.
As for Samuel M. Jackson, it sounds like he let the background check company off relatively easy. In his case it was pretty clear that any competent investigator would have known those records were not him. The age difference and the difference in race should have been pretty obvious flags that this was two different people.
Just wait till they are managing your health records. You are likely to find out that you are a 57 year old Asian woman.
So true ! So sad ! But those hi-tech code writin boys and girls wanna get paid like real professionals. Cause they know a language the rest don't. Big deal. All they do is plug their own assumptions and prejudices in code and then proceed to wreck the heck out of a whole bunch of other people under the guise of a new hi-tech development. Look at all the bogus data in the big 3 credit report db's. The No-fly list common name victims.
This happened to a guy I worked with. He had to get paperwork stating who he was before they'd hire him. It was weird, because the guy with the same name was still in jail. I still don't get how it happens. Their ss numbers, age, race and all that are totally different. So why does he have to still prove that it's not him sitting in jail.
Even standing there in front of them doesn't seem to do the trick. How the hell can he be in jail and standing there at the same time.
I had a bank call me once and ask why I had quit making payments on my new car? Especially with only 2 payments to go? Problem being I hadn't bought a new car in quite some time. Whoever you were, thanks for helping my credit score for 4 years! Work on getting us a vacation home would ya?
It is so easy to confuse names. That may be what happened when the reporter associated the job-seeking Samuel M. Jackson with Samuel L. Jackson the actor.
yeah, I caught that too...
Samuel jackson! It's his beer!
The Fair Credit Reporting Act is a crime in itself. Its primary function is to protect companies like Experian and TransUnion from lawsuits when they transmit false information to employers and banks and landlords and such. You actually have NO way to remove bad information from these sorts of files. This is because the FCRA requires the person making the initial report of the data to remove it. Often the information is gleaned from poor sources and there is no initial reporter. In others the initial reported has ceased to exist. And in yet others, the initial reporter is fearful that if they correct the wrong information that they will be sued for putting it there in the first place.
All these "credit data" people need to have some skin in the game. There need to be stiff fines for the database companies who pick up this bad information and then fail to correct it within 10 days of being notified. Say a fine of $5k a day per line entry?
Exactly, Chris. We are the ones who suffer at the hands of these credit and background reporting agencies but they make money off of our information and suffer no repercussion when they get it wrong, which is a large percentage of the time. So, seriously, where are our rights in all this? Our civil rights are seriously impaired by these companies but they have no regulations on them and very little oversight. Again, civil rights are only for those who can afford them.
Completely agree. I had some bogus stuff on my credit report and it took 6 years and 8 months to get it removed. I hate these companies.
Sheeze try getting your registration stolen from your car!! It took me almost 6 months to convince the DMV that I WAS/AM the sole owner never moved, never signed a title (still had it even) to show my car registred to someone else.
Turns out these criminals are pretty damn smart! They stole my registration from my car while on vacation in Las Vegas, changed the vin # on a stolen car exactly like mine. Made my vin # there vin #, got it reregistered in their name, their address and the DMV wanted me to prove I was the one with the correct car. How do you prove something like that I told the DMV guy and he said for me to make an appointment to verify vin #'s on my car. So I did that, and then they came back with please show proof you are Mrs. Joe Blow to change the title back and the registration back!!! Like the car and the police report was not enough!!!
Some agencies just don't get it!!! I can't imagine the bad guys getting my name and having to fight for it back! What a nightmare!
Amazing the poor guy gets mixed up with same names of criminals and gets the rap...but he doesn't receive those big time checks by mistake for the movie star with same name.
he doesn't have the same name as movie star Sameul L!!!!!!!! Jackson.
He doesn't even look like a black, racist, preacher?
So, should anyone named Joe Smith or John Jones be worried?....how about all the "new" Americans streaming into the country with multiple names?
Do you mean Juan Smith?
Watching too much fox news lately?
I went right off him after he played the bad guy in Jumper. And then he did that other movie with the eye patch on. Nah. I wouldn't give him a job either. He wasn't too bad in Iron Man, but I just don't like him. Especially when he wears his stupid little Kangaroo hat.
The hat is a Kangol. Kangaroo?
One advantage of having a Mother that liked unusual names.
I like these background check compaines. they are poorly run and completely unregulated. In other words, they're a lawsuit waiting to happen.
...But for every lawsuit there are 20 people's lives ruined with no recourse. Sad. Be wary of background check companies and independently corroborate the info!
Same with the credit reporting agencies. They suck. Anybody can slam some crap on your report and you can spend months if not years repairing it.
My name says it all...
It could be worse. Your name could be Robert (Bob) Smith.
Hey, Bob Smith! I know you!
I'm not that Bob Smith. You must mean the other Bob Smith.
MadTown, was your mother's butt two ax handles wide? If so, then you are THE Bob Smith, I know.
Lived in the Middle East, found out how they name their kids. Assuming the boy is 'Henry', father is 'Jack, grandfather is 'Mike' and the family name is 'Smith', then the boy's full name would be" Henry Jack Mike Smith.
By looking at the name, you know exactly who the father, grandfather and family names are. Chances of someone else with the exact name is slim to nil...
What's their name when the father is unknown as with many U.S. criminals?
Also Known As, is my guess.
HAHA most of them probably won't be applying for any legal jobs anyway.
Really, "possibility of having the same name is nil" what about the fact that they only use four names to start with, (Muhammad, Achmed, Aamir, and Abdul) after a while, with all the in-breading, you have to end up with the same combination somewhere)
I know there was too much breading on my filet-o-fish sandwich yesterday.
Been through this on some level. Relocated to a different state a few years ago and when getting new drivers licences, my wife was informed that she could not be issued a license due to an entry from another state (one she had never set foot in) for someone with the same name and "similar" birthday.
Eventually worked out but the indifference of various state agencies was maddening. Grounding every Jane Smith nationwide seemed a perfectly reasonable response to the misdeeds of one individual.
This actually happened to my Dad as well a long time ago. We used to live in a city with someone with the name that he uses (he doesn't use his first name but goes by his middle). The guy was a meth dealer that had been arrested multiple times.
One day the cops showed up at the school where he works and attempted to arrest him. He showed them his finger print card and they realized that they had the wrong person, he tired his drivers license but they said it didn't prove it was not him.
so, the government issued driver's license wasn't enough? It's got the complete name on it!!!
I'm sorry, I couldn't get myself to read this article. If the editor can't even get the first sentence correct then why should I waste my time on the rest of this article???
"Samuel M. Jackson, of the Chicago area, already has it rough
itenough when it comes to name recognition."Sorry, we here in Wisconsin are too busy 'living within our means' to spend any money on competent government. "Cheap and crappy", that's our new motto.
Competence can't be bought anyway! Spending more certainly won't help Wisconsin.
He probably does not speak English.
That makes no sense where in the article did it say Samuel M. Jackson had no knowledge of the English language? How many non-English speakers have the name Samuel Jackson?
Apparently you do not speak English either because your making statements about something that was not in the article to begin with.
Duh thats why in canada all records checks are done by social security number so there is not no mix up. I was held up at U.S border because I shared same name with a hells angel they checked me for tatoos made me give fingerprints while my grandparents were sitting in the lobby freaking out. When the report came back from RCMP no apologies were given, I should of sued homeland security use some common sense your border policies are all screwed up since 9 11 im not an arab get over it.
and the bad thing was he was only 7 at the time
My B-I-L is a III and his father (Jr.) used his ss# when he was young, racked up a bunch of credit charges and never paid them. My B-I-L fought them for years, then finally legally changed his name and got a new ss# to get out of his fathers jam. It is not easy to do, but it can be done. Of course if you show a criminal record it is probably a lot harder to do, and why should someone have to go through that hassel because of some faceless company making a huge error?
Anyone know how to check your criminal background for errors before a potential employer sees it?
I used to really hate my unique last name because it was ALWAYS pronounced incorrectly and lent itself to many an unfortunate nick name in school; however, seeing this...I'm pretty glad there aren't a lot of other "mes" out there.
Happened to my Brother too. He had no criminal record but... Someone with the same common name as him born the same year, committed several felonies and has been in and out of prison. My brother got the INFAMOUS identity letter confirming it wasn't him, BUT that did NOT stop the police from arresting him on several occasions just to release him, Sometimes the SAME police officer would arrest him, guess what he said "I have a warrant and I have to arrest someone" seriously WTF?!? At least he was released a few hours later, without a ride home. More than just inconvenient, seriously disruptive!
Well my brother ended up moving out of state because he drives a big truck and the state of Texas was nice enough to DENY him a DRIVERS LICENSE, because in Texas you cannot get a drivers license if you have a warrant, even if you have a letter from a judge that says IT'S NOT ME!
We insist on gettig the bad guy so much to the point that it is acceptable to get the good guy instead! Hey at least we got someone to pay for someone's crimes. They probably deserve what they get anyway right?
As they say Guilty Before Proven Innocent? Don't need a jury anymore, a few brief "Facts" off the internet are all one needs to prove absolute guilt.
You did write that it is Texas. What did you expect? When did guilt or innocence matter in Texas? As long as somebody is arrested and convicted...
I have been down this road twice in my life.
First, I was declared dead back in 1976. That was good for a quick laugh. Then around 10 years later I started getting a whoping increase in pay. It was great, but the other guy was not happy with my check.
Both times, it was the exact same names as mine. Just disregard the fact that birthdays, places of birth, SSN's etc... were all different from mine. Guess paying attention to detail does not mean anything anymore.
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