US

Man Accused Of Distributing Drugs Via Railroad Stole Dead Baby’s Identity To Evade Law Enforcement

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A man convicted of drug charges stole a dead baby’s identity to elude law enforcement officials for over 30 years, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday.

Howard Farley, 72, was arrested while boarding his private plane at his Florida home on Wednesday, the New York Post reported Thursday. Farley reportedly used the identity of a dead three-month-old from Lake Worth, Florida.

The infant referred to as “T.B.” was born in 1954 and died in 1955, according to the criminal complaint. Farley reportedly obtained a fraudulent passport and attempted to renew the passport under T.B.’s name, date of birth, and Social Security number, according to the Post.

‘Drug kingpin’ Howard Farley hid for 35 years using dead baby’s ID: feds https://t.co/Wy4FG34QTl pic.twitter.com/uWfLxYG2rC

— New York Post (@nypost) December 4, 2020

Investigators discovered that T.B.’s Social Security information was not registered until almost 30 years after his death, according to the criminal complaint.

Farley reportedly used T.B.’s identity to obtain a pilot’s license and a Florida driver’s license, the Post reported. He allegedly used one of the three fraudulent passports to travel to Vietnam in early 2018.

Farley was charged in 1985 with distributing narcotics via the Southern Line, a railroad used to disseminate drugs across the nation, the Post reported.

If convicted of passport fraud, Farley will face a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison, according to the Post.