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Columbia Falls Woman Sentenced for ID Theft

By Beacon Staff

A 33-year-old Columbia Falls woman has been sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to pay more than $18,700 in restitution for her role in an identity theft case.

Andrea Mackowiak, who earlier pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft, was sentenced Friday by U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula.

Prosecutors say Mackowiak took names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth from patient account records at a clinic and gave the information to a person in Washington state. That person used the information to set up Qwest telephone accounts that were used by prison inmates. Court records say that from August through December 2006, inmates used the accounts to obtain phone services from Qwest without paying.