(8 Counts) Felony Identity Theft, (4 Counts) Felony Failure to Register as a Sex Offender, (8 Counts) Felony Forgery & (4 Counts) Felony Presentment of False Instrument for Filing Reduced to Probation and Zero Days in Jail – State v Mr. M (DMC No. 11311) (Maricopa County Superior Court CR2012-006755): In 1972, Mr. M was 17 years old and ran away from home from Florida to California, where he assumed a different name. He went and got his social security card when he got his first job and always left it under the assumed name. He was later convicted of multiple misdemeanor sex crimes in the Phoenix City Court, and was required to Register as a Sex Offender per Arizona Revised Statue ARS 13-3821. He had done so for years under the pseudonym.
In 2011, he changed his name back to his birth name. This was done with the assistance of an “enumeration expert” with the Sex Offender Registry. She had told him he could change his name as long as he never went back to using his fake name, and she did not inform him that he had to re-register the new name within 72 hours of the change. Later, Mr. M was on unemployment and was collecting benefits under his old name. He ultimately was arrested and charged with multiple counts of Forgery based on the Sex Offender Registration forms that he originally signed, and based on his employment verifications he signed on jobs he had worked at throughout the years. He was also charged with Taking the Identity of another, Presentment of False Instruments and Failure to Register as a Sex Offender during the course of various moves during his lifetime. We were able to show the Prosecutor that throughout the course of Mr. M lifetime he had never committed any other types of sex crimes (over the previous 50 years). In addition, he had always paid taxes and tried to comply with the law. Although he was facing the rest of his life in prison if he were tried and convicted on all charges, we were able to secure a deal to Probation with zero days in jail.
