AKRON, Ohio -- Thousands of area clients for an Ohio health care plan could be at risk for identity theft.

More than 70,000 clients with the Buckeye Community Health Plan could be affected by stolen personal information, reported NewsChannel5's Jonathan Costen.

Alliance residents Todd and Shawna Powell have five children, ages 1 to 9, and all of them have Social Security numbers that their parents fear are up for grabs for anyone to steal.

"Something so precious gets stolen from underneath you. It should've never happened," said Todd Powell.

The family recently received a letter from the Buckeye Community Health Plan, letting them know that several laptop computers were stolen from its Columbus headquarters.

The laptops contained personal healthcare information, including addresses, phone numbers and Social Security numbers of thousands of clients from Stark, Summit and Lucas counties.

Buckeye serves the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

Agency spokesman Dennis Evans told NewsChannel5, "Obviously, anytime personal information of this detail is unofficially released, there is concern given the prevalence of identity theft."

But this is little consolation for a mother who wonders if her children's credit will be destroyed.

"I'm a little scared. I know how hard it is to get credit when you have no credit, let alone just turning 18 and having horrible credit because someone ruined your credit," said Shawna Powell.

Buckeye is offering clients a six-month free subscription of credit monitoring. But Todd Powell said he was told the service wasn't available for his children, and he wonders why, because identity thieves have no boundaries.

A representative from Buckeye told NewsChannel5 that the age issue has been an ongoing discussion this past week, and the company is looking into the matter on how to protect children.

If you have questions about the data theft, call Buckeye's toll-free number at 866-246-4358.

You can also find out more about identity theft by visiting the Federal Trade Commission's Web site.

Identity theft victims should place fraud alerts with the following agencies.

www.Equifax.com
800-685-1111
P.O. Box 740241
Atlanta, GA
30374-0241

www.experian.com
888-322-5583
P.O. Box 2002
Allen, Texas 75013

www.transunion.com
800-888-4213
P.O. Box 1000
Chester, PA 19022