Fair / 52° F
Deer Creek man indicted for stealing man’s identity
Published 11:43am Thursday, November 10, 2011MINNEAPOLIS—Earlier today in federal court in St. Paul, a 56-year-old Deer Creek man was indicted for using the identity of another person when applying for a passport. Frank Chester Brown was charged with one count of making false statements in a United States passport application, five counts of false representation of a Social Security number, and five counts of aggravated identity theft.
The indictment alleges that on June 29, 2004, Brown made the false statement in the passport application by providing the name and Social Security number along with the date and place of birth of someone else. In addition, the indictment alleges that Brown used a fraudulent Social Security number to apply for a Home Depot credit card (on March 30, 2007, and on March 10, 2009), a motorcycle financing loan from Eaglemark Savings Bank (on August 3, 2007), and a checking account with First National Bank of Henning (on January 3, 2009, and on November 3, 2010). The aggravated identity theft counts apply to Brown’s use of the fraudulent Social Security number on each of those dates.
According to a law enforcement affidavit filed in the case, Brown submitted an application for a passport in Otter Tail County on June 29, 2004. In that application, he identified himself as someone else. In support of his application, he presented an expired passport with the same false name. Authorities became suspicious of his application after the victim of his crime applied for a passport on May 3, 2010. Brown, who was considered armed and dangerous, fled authorities and was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service (“USMS”) on October 5, 2011, in Alabama. He remains in custody.
If convicted, Brown faces a potential maximum penalty of ten years in prison for passport fraud, five years on each count of Social Security fraud, and a mandatory minimum penalty of two years in prison for each count of aggravated identity theft. All sentences will be determined by a federal district court judge.
This case is the result of an investigation by the U.S. State Department Diplomatic Security Service, the Social Security Administration-Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Marshal Service, the Henning Police Department, the Otter Tail County Sheriff’s Office, and the Richland County, North Dakota, Sheriff’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lola Velazquez-Aguilu.
