Undocumented immigrant charged with stealing man's identity

Daniel Tepfer, Staff writer

Updated 11:06 p.m., Friday, May 27, 2011

BRIDGEPORT -- An employee with security clearance at LaGuardia Airport not only is an illegal immigrant, but obtained the job with an identity he stole from a local man 20 years ago, state investigators said.

Fritzner Francois, 44, of Price Street, was charged Thursday with criminal impersonation, third-degree forgery, fabricating evidence, interfering with an officer and filing a false statement.

Francois was being held on bond and in the custody of the U.S. Department of Immigration and Naturalization. He is a Haitian citizen.

The ruse was discovered Wednesday while Francois, who has been passing himself off as James Cayo, was awaiting trial in Bridgeport for allegedly sexually abusing a mentally disabled girl. That case was subsequently resolved.

Senior Assistant State's Attorney Cornelius Kelly was doing investigative work in the abuse case when he encountered a relative of the real Cayo, who lives in Norwalk. He said the relative told him the man awaiting trial was not Cayo.

Kelly said he and state inspectors subsequently interviewed the real Cayo. He said fingerprints confirmed his identity and also revealed the man facing trial was actually Francois, who had been arrested in Norwalk in 1991 for forgery and criminal impersonation.

Kelly said Francois, who is distantly related to Cayo, stole Cayo's identity 20 years ago and obtained a Connecticut driver's license and other identification documents in Cayo's name.

Attorney Robert Berke, who believed he was representing Cayo, said the man had been working at LaGuardia Airport as a customer service representative and had security clearance.

Officials at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airport, did not return calls for comment.

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