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Deseret Morning News, Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Victim solves his ID theft

Californian comes to Utah to find his 'double'

By Pat Reavy
Deseret Morning News

For the past couple of years, Anthony Cerini couldn't figure out what was happening to his credit rating.

The problem came to a head when he went to file his taxes this year and was told that a tax return had already been filed under his Social Security number.

Later, the 29-year-old Fullerton, Calif., resident was rejected for a loan to buy a house because of outstanding debts in Utah.

"I was like, 'Utah? Utah? I never lived in Utah,' " he said.

As the mystery unfolded, Cerini learned that a man who authorities believe stole his birth certificate more than a decade ago was living in Salt Lake City under his name and making big item purchases.

Juan Carlos Cervantes, 35, was arrested over the weekend by Salt Lake City police for investigation of deception, possession of forged multiple forms of government identification such as health insurance cards and bank cards, identity theft and giving false information to police.

Cervantes, an undocumented immigrant, had apparently assumed Cerini's identity in Salt Lake City and used his personal information to open bank and utility accounts, purchase a vehicle and rent an apartment. He was arrested Saturday afternoon at his apartment near 800 North and 1600 West.

After the arrest, Cerini said he recognized Cervantes as a person who dated his sister 13 to 14 years ago in California.

"(Cervantes) told the cops that my sister gave him (my) birth certificate and Social Security card. But she was as shocked as I was to hear it was him. She told me, 'I promise to God I never gave him anything,'" he said.

The family believes Cervantes happened to spot the documents in the apartment Cerini shared with his sister and took them.

It wasn't until Cerini went to apply for his first job that he realized the important forms of identification were missing.

"I never thought anything of it. I thought I had just misplaced it or my mom had misplaced it. I thought it was around," he said. "When I got a job, I got a (duplicate) Social Security card and birth certificate."

Cerini believes the alleged thief just sat on his stolen identification until about three years ago.

It was about 2 1/2 years ago that Cerini said he first realized something was wrong. At that time, he applied for a loan to buy a truck but was rejected because, he was told, he already had an outstanding car loan in Utah.

Cerini reported the incident to Fullerton police, who he said did what they could to help but were unable to make an arrest.

Two years ago, he received a notice from the IRS saying he hadn't reported his Utah income on his tax returns.

Finally, after seeing a copy of his credit report while applying for a home loan this year, Cerini discovered there were even more purchases made in Utah under his name and that thousands of dollars in debt had been accumulated.

The impostor also had unpaid bills with the gas company. It was through them that Cerini got an address and phone number for the man posing as him.

It was at that point he decided he needed to take action himself.

"I work hard. I need what's coming to me," said Cerini, a construction worker. "I've never been to Utah ever in my life. But my girlfriend helped finance the trip. We flew out there, got a rental car and figured it out. I said, 'I'm going to go out there and find the guy.' "

Which is exactly what Cerini and his girlfriend did.

"We went down there, staked him out, waited till we found him, then said 'All right, time to call the cops.' It's one of the greatest feelings to know that we got him," he said.

When Salt Lake City police went to the apartment to talk to the impostor, he initially still used Cerini's name and even presented them with an official ID, Salt Lake police detective Robin Snyder said. Both men were then taken to Salt Lake City police headquarters where the mystery of who was the real Anthony Cerini was finally solved.

Before he left Utah, Cerini said he stopped by Zions Bank to begin the process of clearing his credit record.

Now, he said, he tells all his friends to keep a close eye on important documents such as their birth certificates and Social Security cards.

"It's nothing to play with, I'm telling you. That stuff has to be locked away in a filing cabinet. You never know about people these days," he said. "I just never would have thought somebody way back then would do this."

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E-mail: preavy@desnews.com