Lives thrown away in the trash

(WTNH) - Personal information that should be personal and yet it does not stay that way. In fact, News Channel 8 got down and dirty and you won't believe where we found some sensitive documents.

We went to more than a dozen dumpsters across the state of Connecticut. From juvenile courts to probation offices. And what we found was disturbing, including all kinds of confidential documents and personal information you would never want to get out.

From failed drug reports, to bank account numbers, to social security numbers to telephone numbers, all of this information was here for anyone to see.

So who's life was thrown in the garbage?

One of the case files belongs to Luis Cardona of Torrington.

"This right here is really a flash back of what I have been through, I can' believe this is really out there," Cardona said. "I'm surprised you found this much. I can see a couple of sheets, but when you find all this on somebody, damn, this is my whole history."

A history he has put behind him. Cardona says he is clean, finished with his probation, has a good job making airplane parts and is back with his family.

"When you put these behind you, you want it to stay behind you, you don't want it to come back up where anybody can see it," Cardona said.

Another life we found in the trash was that of a young child, not even a teenager, in court for cutting up a classmate with a knife.

We also found other juvenile court documents and case notes in the trash that talked about suicide attempts as well as other disturbing behavior.

We took the documents to Attorney General Richard Blumenthal to see if any laws were broken.

"I'm appalled and alarmed that this kind of information is accessible in any way, not to mention a public dumpster," Blumenthal said.

We showed him some of the social security numbers, birthdays, basically all of the information you would need to steal an identity. He has now launched his own investigation.

"This kind of sensitive and explosive information finds its way onto the internet, for example. This needs to be safeguarded," Blumenthal said.

Safeguarding the identity of someone who is turning their life around is extremely critical.

"I can believe they did that man. This is so fresh, it's not old, not even a year," Cardona said.

-----

Watch viewers' reactions to this story here.