Man Gets 30 Months In Identity Theft Case

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A 57-year-old Deer Creek man was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison last Thursday in Minneapolis Federal Court in connection with a case where he tried to use another man's identity for a passport.

Frank Chester Brown was charged on Nov. 8, 2011, on one count of making false statements on a passport application, one count of false representation of a Social Security number and one count of aggravated identity theft. He pleaded guilty on March 2 to the charges.

According to the plea agreement, Brown admitted that on June 29, 2004, he attempted to apply for a passport with the name, Social Security number and birthdate of another man. He also admitted that since 1993, he was using somebody else's identity without their knowledge. The identity he stole was the one he attempted to use on the passport application, according to court documents.

In support of the application, Brown supplied an expired passport under the same false name. Authorities began investigating the case when the victim applied for a passport on May 3, 2010.

Brown also admitted that in 1994, he fraudulently got a Social Security card number using a stolen identity and a different birth date. He used the card to apply for credit to finance a motorcycle from a bank. He was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service on Oct. 5, 2011, in Alabama.