WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. -- A 65-year-old woman wrongly arrested and accused of being the mastermind behind a sophisticated identity theft ring wants an apology from the Jefferson County district attorney.

Margot Sommerville had her purse snatched in June 2006 in California, where she lives. Five months later, while visiting family members in Wheat Ridge, she noticed that $20,000 was missing from her account.

Sommerville reported the issue to Wheat Ridge police and quickly became a suspect in a massive identity theft ring.

“From the very beginning, when I reported it to the Wheat Ridge Police Department, I was treated more like a criminal than a victim,” Sommerville told 7NEWS via webcam from her California home.

Authorities believed Sommerville, a retired Wells Fargo bank executive with no criminal history, was using stolen ID cards to pass large checks.

In 2008, she was handcuffed and arrested at her home and spent one night in jail. Over a four-year period, Sommerville would spend close to $60,000 trying to clear her name.

“It's a very frightening thing to know you're innocent and not be able to have anyone believe that,” she said.

On Tuesday, Jefferson County District Attorney Scott Storey announced that Sommerville had been cleared and another woman, Andrea Harris-Frazier, had been arrested in connection with the identity theft ring.

“It would be nice to have a sincere apology from the police department and from Scott Storey,” said Sommerville.

But Storey stopped short of offering an apology.

“It’s unfortunate,” Storey said. “We had enough evidence to file on her, and we dismissed the case as soon as we felt like we could go no further. I’m not going to apologize to Ms. Sommerville.”

Storey said Sommerville and others could avoid identity theft issues by shutting down a bank account that has been compromised.

Sommerville has considered filing a lawsuit, but her lawyers said it could cost tens of thousands of dollars more to get past several layers of legal immunity.