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Jury Finds 'Unknown Man' Guilty of Stealing Slain Child's Identity
0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. A federal jury has convicted an unknown man of stealing the identity of a child who was killed in 1977 for 25 years.
The defendant, whose identity remains unknown, was sentenced to more than five years in federal prison, the U.S. Attorney's Office for District of Idaho said in a news release on Tuesday.
According to prosecutors, the man used the identity of Carlos Ramon Obregon, who died at the age of 14 in 1977, to fraudulently obtain government benefits worth up to about $300,000 over the course of more than two decades.
A federal jury in Pocatello found him guilty of wire fraud, theft of government funds, aggravated identity theft and related charges, following a three-day trial in May.
U.S. District Judge David C. Nye sentenced the man to 61 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. The judge also ordered him to pay $283,977.40 in restitution.
Cases in which a court sentences a defendant whose identities remain unknown are highly unusual. Criminal prosecutions usually require authorities to establish and verify a defendant's identity and the conviction and sentencing of a person known only through an assumed name or a stolen identity is a rare occurrence.
Newsweek has contacted the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Idaho for further comment via email.
Obregon was born in Los Angeles in 1963, according to court records and evidence presented at the trial.
He died at age 14 after suffering a gunshot wound to the head during a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles 1977. He was buried at a cemetery in Los Angeles that year.
The U.S. attorney’s office said the defendant had applied for a replacement Social Security card using Obregon's Social Security number, his date of birth and his parents' names in 2000—some 23 years after he died.
At the trial, Obregon's mother testified that her son had died in 1977 and that the defendant is not her son and that she does not know him. The man's true identity remains unknown, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
Prosecutors said the defendant used Obregon’s identity to fraudulently obtain multiple identification documents over the years, including a U.S. passport in 2012.
He travelled to Mexico several times using the passport and unsuccessfully tried to renew it in 2024.
The man used the stolen identity for more than 25 years, obtaining government benefits totalling about $284,000 in, including more than $177,000 in Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney for the District of Idaho Bart M. Davis said the case should send a message that identity theft and fraud involving taxpayer funds will be aggressively investigated and prosecuted.
“Taxpayer funds are precious resources, and our office will fight to vigorously protect such funds,” Davis said in a statement.
"This sentence should send a strong message that stealing taxpayer funds and craven identity theft will be met with a thorough federal investigation, and a stiff sentence.”
Contact Newsweek editor on this story: Edward Pearcey.
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