You're driving on road one night, then you notice there's a
police cruiser following close behind you. You figure the cop
just wants to pass you, so you move over one lane, except he
moves over too and stays on your tail, then you see the flashing
red & blue lights then "Woooop!!! wooooop!!!" You must be
wondering why you were pulled over. You weren't speeding nor
breaking any traffic laws and your tag is not expired. Maybe
it's just a burned out taillight. "Sir may I see your driver's
license and registration please." Then comes the shocker!
"SIR... step out of the vehicle." You get patted down for
weapons, drugs, etc.. "You're under arrest for outstanding
warrants." On go the handcuffs "Zzzzkkkkkk! Zzzzkkkkkk!" "You
have the right to remain silent..." By now, you must be thinking
"OH S---!!!". "I've never been arrested in my life!" After
you've been booked at the county jail, strip searched,
fingerprinted, and maybe spent the weekend in the slammer, you
go before the judge only to find out you're free to go, all
charges dropped because it turns out you're not the person they
were looking for.
Is this a case of mistaken identity, or more likely, a case of
STOLEN IDENTITY, or criminal identity theft. The most common
scenario is during a traffic citation or misdemeanor arrest, the
imposter fraudulently provides to an officer-of-the-law somebody
else's identification, usually always that of a friend or
relative, then skip town and simply not pay the fine or fail to
make the required court appearance. Unlike financial identity
theft, the victim is usually always known to the imposter. The
judge will then issue a warrant for his arrest. In many cases,
the imposter either stole or fraudulently acquired a phony
driver's license or other ID, or simply "borrowed" the victim's
name as an alias. The impostor is most often wanted on
outstanding warrants for failure to appear. The victim is
usually arrested during a routine traffic stop. This type of
identity theft commonly occurs where the age and physical
appearance of the two are similar. Police are tending to be much
more cautious today in order to avoid false arrest lawsuits, but
the system has a long way to go. Fortunately, unlike financial,
criminal identity fraud is relatively rare.
In a few cases serious offenses such as DUI and felonies were
committed in the victim's name and the person's name ends up in
the criminal database system. The victim might in for a real
shock when he is told he cannot buy a gun because he failed the
instant background check, or is one day called into his boss's
office, to be informed he is being fired because a criminal
record showed up in a routine employee background check. In the
end you probably wished this imposter were caught in Saudi
Arabia where he would be sentenced to 100 lashes in the public
square.
Unfortunately, the criminal justice system does not yet have a
decent contingency plan in place to clear an innocent person's
name. The burdon of clearing one's name lies mostly with the
accused, sometimes with steep attorney's fees.
Procedures to clear your name from criminal databases varies
according to state, or even individual counties. Some states
already have special procedures in place for victims of criminal
identity theft. Ask your state Attorney General's office.
If wrongful criminal offenses are linked to your name, first
contact the original arresting police/sheriff's department who
originally arrested the impostor, or else the court who issued
the arrest warrant and file an impersonation report with them,
and confirm your identity. Ask the police department to take
your fingerprints, photograph you, and make official copies of
your photo IDs, I.e.: driver's license, passport, etc.. To claim
your innocence, ask the police to compare your fingerprints and
photos with the imposter's.
Maintain a detailed log of all your phone conversions,
paperwork, email messages, contacts, etc.. Keep a detailed
record of all your expenses incurred. When writing the
authorities you should always use certified mail with return
receipt. Email is generally not considered secure for sending
confidential private information, so it's not recommended if you
can avoid it. The rule is never send out something via email
that would not want to share with the public. Changing your
social security number is rarely recommended as that usually
causes more problems than it solves.
If the arrest warrant is from another state or county, ask your
local police dept. to forward your impersonation report to the
agency of the jurisdiction where the arrest warrant, traffic
citation, or criminal conviction originated.
The police/sheriff's dept should recall any arrest warrants and
issue you a clearance letter or certificate of release in the
event you were arrested and booked. It's essential to keep this
document with you at all times in case you might be falsely
arrested again. Have official copies made at the courthouse, in
case it gets lost. Ask the agency to file the record of the
follow-up investigation establishing your innocence at the D.A's
office and/or the court in the jurisdiction where the crime
occurred. This will result in an amended complaint.
Unfortunately once your name ends up in a criminal database,
it's difficult to get it completely removed. Ask that the key
name or primary name be changed from yours to the imposter's
name, or else to "John Doe" if the imposter's true identity is
unknown, with your name noted as an alias.
You will also want to clear your name within the court records.
Determine which state law(s) will help you with this and how. If
your state has no formal procedure for clearing your record,
contact the D.A.'s office in the county where the case was
originally prosecuted. Ask the D.A.'s office for the appropriate
court records needed to clear your name. Unfortunately in some
situations, you may have no choice but to hire an attorney to
help you clear your good name. You may want to ask your state
DMV if your driver's license was used by the imposter. Ask them
to flag your files for possible fraud.
Overall, your best defense is prevention. Pick your friends
carefully, and safeguard your drivers license, passports or
other forms of ID.
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