Man Caught Using Dead Brother's Stolen Identity After 60 Years

In a bizarre turn of events, a Maine man has been convicted of stealing and using his dead brother's identity for nearly six decades. And it was only through facial recognition software that he was finally arrested.

Napoleon Gonzalez, now 86, first assumed his brother's identity in 1965 after his sibling died as an infant 25 years prior. In 1981, he filed for a social security number under his brother's name, which he's been using to collect retirement benefits since 2001, as well as to obtain state identification cards and several passports. Most recently, Gonzalez used a falsified passport to travel to Canada in 2018.

The Social Security Administration had previously investigated Gonzalez for potential fraud in 2010, but his benefits were ultimately upheld.

However, technology eventually caught up to him, and proved to be his undoing. After facial identification software alerted the Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles that Gonzalez’s face was on two state identification cards, a new investigation was launched in 2020.

Emily Cook, a spokesperson for the Maine secretary of state’s office, told the Associated Press that facial recognition technology is used to prevent individuals from obtaining credentials under another person's name. "When fraud is detected, the fraudulent transactions are investigated and referred for administrative and/or criminal proceedings," Cook explained. "That is what happened with this case."

According to court documents, Gonzalez claimed in his defense that the Air Force Office of Special Investigations had instructed him to use his deceased brother's identity as part of an undercover operation in the 1960s.

But his defense didn't fly before a judge. On Friday, a U.S. District Court jury in Bangor found Gonzalez guilty of mail fraud, which carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. He also faces an additional 15 years for identity theft, 10 years for passport fraud, and five years for Social Security fraud, as well as a fine of up to $250,000.