"Their throats are open tombs; their tongue practices deceit" (Romans 3:13). Serpents have been a universal symbol of deceit in literature since "The Fall," when God transformed Satan into a seductive serpent and "[c]esented" Satan to slide "on [his] belly" for all eternity for the his deception (Alter 41) Dante uses serpents in his epic poem, the Inferno, to link the fraudulent nature of thieves to their punishment in the seventh pit of the eighth circle of Hell. Snakes have metaphorically slithered through time and shed, taking on new guises as deceivers in society. In 2005, they revealed a new face, Olatunji Oluwatosin, an identity thief. From his base in Los Angeles, Olatunji Oluwatosin stole private information, such as credit card numbers, of hundreds of U.S. citizens from the nationwide ChoicePoint database. Oluwatosin, using the deceptive arts of the serpent, however remained undetected as his crimes progressed, people became aware of his crimes, leading to his eventual capture. Oluwatosin's crime shows the complex relationship between modern identity thieves and the thieving serpents of Dante's Inferno. By avoiding detection and transforming himself, Oluwatosin has effectively transformed himself into a serpent until an eventual punishment that embraces Dante's ideal of contrapasso. Identity thieves avoid detection by presenting the face of an honest man. Olatunji Oluwatosin could have persisted in his crime as long as he maintained a different personality. However, Los Angeles resident James Garrett reported to police that a credit card "in his name had been redirected to another address," an act that began Detective Duane's search for Oluwatosin (O'Harrow) Decker. During his investigation, Detective Decker realized that a client… in the middle of a sheet of paper… “The defendant in a major identity theft case has been found guilty.” Internet Week. February 17, 2005. October 24, 2007. .Mimoso, Michael S. "The Choice Is Clear for This Privacy Officer: ChoicePoint's Carol DiBattiste." TechTarget. April 14, 2006. October 24, 2007. .O'Harrow Jr., Robert. “ChoicePoint Data Cache has become a powder keg.” The Washington Post. March 5, 2005. October 24, 2007. .The New English Bible; New Testament. New York: Oxford University Press, 1961. Print.United States of America. Federal Bureau of Investigation. From the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Network. 04 November. 2010. .