Man with unknown identity convicted of stealing another's identity for more than 40 years
A Massachusetts man whose real identity is not known was sentenced Wednesday to use another person's identity for more than 40 years, according to federal prosecutors in Massachusetts.
The suspect, just referred to as John Doe, is suspected of being a Dominican citizen, according to a press release from the US Attorney's Office. The person was sentenced by a federal jury in Boston, Massachusetts, according to the release.
Could use the identity of the victim, identified by the US Attorney's Office as a US citizen of Puerto Rico who died in 2012, to "work in Boston, get and travel on a US passport, apply for unemployment, and get public housing benefits for themselves and his family, "according to the release.
Beginning to use the identity after achieving the citizen's birth certificate ever before 1[ads1]975, the release said. Didn't get the victim's personal identification number at that time, but he "created or obtained a fake ID card with US citizens' name with a non-corresponding social security number assigned to another person from Puerto Rico," which he could use from 1975 to 1994, according to the release. . The fake card allowed Do work in New York and Boston at that time, according to the US Attorney's Office.
The release said Doe was informed by a letter from the IRS in 1994 that the name and social security number of his card did not match and that he had to solve the problem at a state office.
When he went to an SSA office in Roxbury, Massachusetts, "he was asked that an SSA employee had believed he was the person he had stolen and that he had forgotten his true social security number," according to the release. Provides biographical information from citizen's birth certificate to employee, who then entered the information into a computer and found the citizen's actual social security number. Then he could obtain and use a social security card with the American citizen's real name and social security number.
Did manage to use the new card until the victim died, after which the Social Administration "learned that someone in Massachusetts used a deceased person's social security number and started a scam," according to the release.
John Doe was convicted of aggravated identity theft, using passports obtained through false statements, stealing public funds, and abusing a social security number, according to the release.
The accusations of using passports obtained through false statements and stealing public funds each have a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, and an abuse of a social security number gives a sentence of up to five years in prison, according to the US law office. A charge for aggravated identity theft involves a mandatory sentence of two years in prison, according to the release.
Doe is set to be sentenced on September 18.
