Richard Hoagland of Indiana claims he is Terry Symansky of Ohio, who died in 1991.
“Richard Hoagland takes Terry Symansky’s death certificate to apply for birth certificate from Ohio. He uses that birth certificate to apply by mail for a driver’s license in Alabama. He then uses the Alabama driver’s license to apply for Floridas driver’s license,” says Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco.
So for the past 20 years, Hoagland has lived as Symansky -- getting married, even having a child, and calling Zephyrhills home.
“Also obtains a private pilot's license under name Terry Symansky,” says Nocco.
When identity thieves commit crimes in your name
It was a major case of identity theft that Hoagland thought he conquered, until the real Symansky’s family got involved.
“Nephew of real Terry Symansky was on ancestry. com doing family project. He looks up real uncle and sees he dies in 1991 then scrolls down page and sees documentation he was remarried in Pasco County and has pilot license,” says Nocco.
The arrest of Hoagland and the bizarre details surrounding this case have neighbors in disbelief.
“That’s pretty mindblowing,” says one neighbor.
But the sheriff says the only positive about this is that Hoagland is now behind bars, but so many lives including his children and a wife who had no clue are destroyed.
Detectives are not sure why Hoagland fled and stole Symansky’s identity.
His former wife says that he was being investigated by FBI for embezzlement of millions of dollars.
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