PORTLAND, Maine — An 86-year-old man accused of assuming his brother’s id many years in the past and utilizing it to double dip on Social Security advantages has been convicted of a number of expenses, caught by facial recognition expertise that matched the identical face to 2 completely different identities, authorities say.
Napoleon Gonzalez, of Etna, assumed the id of his brother in 1965, 1 / 4 century after his sibling’s dying as an toddler, and used the stolen id to acquire Social Security advantages underneath each identities, a number of passports and state identification playing cards, legislation enforcement officers stated.
A U.S. District Court jury in Bangor on Friday convicted him of mail fraud, Social Security fraud, passport fraud and id theft. Mail fraud carries the best potential jail sentence, as much as 20 years.
His lawyer stated Tuesday that he intends to enchantment and can search to maintain Gonzalez out jail till the first U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals points a ruling.
Gonzalez’s advantages have been beforehand investigated by the Social Security Administration in 2010 for potential fraud and his advantages have been upheld.
A brand new investigation was launched in 2020 after facial identification software program indicated Gonzalez’s face was on two state identification playing cards.
The facial recognition expertise is utilized by the Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles to make sure nobody obtains a number of credentials or credentials underneath another person’s title, stated Emily Cook, spokesperson for the secretary of state’s workplace.
“When fraud is detected, the fraudulent transactions are investigated and referred for administrative and/or criminal proceedings. That is what happened with this case,” she stated.
When confronted, Gonzalez claimed that he took on his deceased brother’s id on the route of the Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations whereas collaborating in an undercover operation within the Sixties, based on court docket paperwork. He later admitted to faking his dying underneath his personal id and persevering with together with his brother’s id, the paperwork indicated.
A sentencing date has not but been set for Gonzalez, who stays free.
His lawyer, Harris Mattson, stated he doesn’t assume the federal government proved all the components of the a number of counts towards his consumer, and he questioned the knowledge of the imposition of a prolonged jail sentence for his consumer at his superior age.
Mattson stated it’s ironic that it could price extra for his consumer to be imprisoned than the price of the twin advantages he had been receiving.
“At the age of 86, he doesn’t know how much longer he has to live. He could easily be in prison for the rest of his life,” Mattson stated.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”