SEATTLE - The state calls it a failure and something that never should have happened.

A worker broke the rules and took files home of 19 clients of the Department of Social and Health Services.

The files - full of personal information - were stolen.

And now those 19 clients could become victims of identity thieves.

Dennis Nelson found out he is one of the 19 when he got a letter in the mail.

"I opened it up and I dropped my jaw," he said.

DSHS wrote to tell him how sorry they are.

"Somebody knows my address, my birthdate, my Social Security number, my criminal background, my credit score, my credit rating," he said. "That's, that's everything."

Nelson expects there's a good chance it'll wind up in the hands of identity thieves.

A DSHS employee had the paper files on 19 clients in a briefcase in his car. That violates the agency rules.

Then, the briefcase was stolen.

The agency told the victims it's now up to them to take steps to protect themselves.

"We're not in the business of helping people to protect themselves. What we're in the business of doing is protecting their confidential information," said Steve Williams of DSHS. "Here was a failure. We don't like failures. We're very upset about the failure. We apologize profusely to those who have been a part of this."

The apology does little for Dennis Nelson. He feels a nightmare starting that he's lived before.

Nelson was a victim of identity theft in 1994 - and it's taken years to recover.

"I'm angry. I'm devastated. As we talk I want to cry," he said. "I've worked so hard to reestablish myself and put things back together so I can maintain a normal financial lifestyle."

DSHS says the worker who broke the rules could get anything from a verbal reprimand to a being fired.