Text messages going to random people in my town?

Something bizarre and frightening has happened to me twice over the past two days. I text often using my iPhone. Yesterday I was texting with my wife and all of the sudden I got a response from a completely random person. What's frightening is the text was a direct response to a text I had sent to my wife. (I know because it had answered a question I had asked her). It was an iMessage, so there so was phone number, just an e-mail address. What's even more bizarre is a quick Google search of the e-mail address led me to a profile on another forum with the same name. The person's profile said they were located in the same town I lived in! I'm baffled by this. I've never met this person before, their e-mail address is not in my contacts, yet they're getting texts intended for my wife. I even checked the "to" field in the message, and only my wife was listed. Even more strange is my wife got the message as well.

This situation has occurred twice now, and each time a message has gone to a different random person! This is obviously a concern to me. I don't want people I don't know getting my texts. My job also involves handling confidential information, so this makes me afraid to send messages to my co-workers.

I hope the explained the problem well. My assumption is this is a problem on Verizon's end. I'm truly baffled. Any help is appreciated!