Man steals identity of sex offender

CLINTON (AP) -- A good rule of thumb for an identity thief is not to steal the name of someone whose reputation is worse than yours - such as a sex offender.

Police said James Perry stole the name and identity of a neighbor who turned out to be a convicted sex offender.

Perry stole the identity of Robert Kowalski in order to obtain a drivers license, police said. Perry was living in Florida at the time and Kowalski was his neighbor.

Perry had four drunken driving arrests which he believed would make it difficult to get a license legally in Connecticut, police said.

Perry moved to Connecticut about a year ago and things went well until Perry was arrested for disorderly conduct.

A routine computer check found that "Kowalski" was a convicted sex offender in Michigan and not registered as required with the state of Connecticut.

Every bit of identification in his possession labeled the suspect as "Kowalski," but man himself was adamant that he was not a convicted sex offender, police said.

Perry was released from Superior Court in Middletown Thursday on a promise to appear for his next court date Oct. 10 on charges of criminal impersonation, with charges of identity theft and forgery.

I have twice been a victim of identity theft and my judgement would be that if the son-of-a-bitch stole an identity, that's his problem. Execute him, exile him, eunuch him. Whatever it takes. Since he decided not to be whoever he was before, and is not who he purported to be, he is nobody and should just be executed forthwith and without delay. You actually should have to be who you say you are lately to have any rights, and if you are not who you have lately claimed to be, why not just go sit in the electric chair and wait for the big zap.

I don't mind at all... About 6 years ago I walked outside to pull my garbage can off the street and found the garbage can on it's side and most of my garbage spread out over the sidewalk. I figured somebody knocked it over and kicked the garbage can a few times. If only that's what really happened...

Apparently I had left something in my garbage that gave the identity thieves enough info to put something together, as a few weeks later I tried to use my ATM card and was denied, stating some reason or other (I don't remember). It was a really embarassing moment but I was fortunate enough to get the problem fixed right away by staying on top of the clean up process.

The second time I have no idea how it happened, as I was cross shredding everything before throwing it away. It's quite possible the thieves laid low for a few months and used the same information to put together a new identity. As I understand it, the process can be repeated and repeated.

If it happens again I can get a new social security number if I want.

For help on identity theft, checkout:

If you do become a victim of identity theft, the FTC runs a toll-free hotline, 877-438-4338, that offers guidance on how to deal with it, including these first three steps to take.

The first step is to contact the fraud departments of the three major credit bureaus--Equifax, Experian and Trans Union--so they can place a fraud alert on your file. This can prevent a con artist from opening new accounts in your name.

Next, contact all the companies with which you have accounts, whether it's credit card companies, utilities, banks or other lenders.

And third, file a police report.

Oh yeah... before I forget... my neighbor worked as a garbage man for 30 years and when I told him about it all, he just laughed and said I should have mentioned it to him the day it happened. He said things like that happen all the time. He also said, and this really bothers me, that law enforcement will sometimes ask him to pick up somebody's garbage can and dump it where they can go through it without detection.

There was a long period of time when the names, ranks, year of birth, SSN, etc. of active duty military officers were listed in a register that anyone could buy through the GPO. In addition, SSN's were, and still may be, included in the nominations for promotions which are sent for senate approval (all officers must be approved every time they are promoted). I am not sure that this is the way my information got out there, but I assume that's how it happened. I have never been one to use credit cards, etc. much, nor have I ever lost my wallet. My actual name is as unusual as my screen name, and as far as I can tell, I am the only one with that name in the United States.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.