He was arrested at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in September 2021 and remains in custody pending trial.
Ricardo Cesar Guedes, a 49-year-old Brazilian, was accused of stealing the identity of a 4-year-old American boy who died in 1979, in order to obtain an American passport in 1998.
In addition to obtaining the document in the name of William Ericson Ladd, who died in a car accident in Washington, Guedes renewed it six times in the last 22 years, according to the Argentine newspaper Infobae.
Thanks to his deception, he got a job like flight attendant at United Airlines, where he made hundreds of trips around the world;
The subject lived for more than two decades with the boy’s name, married and even managed to obtain a mortgage in Houston thanks to him.
As indicated by the airline spokesman to NBC News, Guedes ceased to be part of the company, clarifying that nowadays “United has a comprehensive verification process for new hires that meets federal legal requirements.”
How did they discover and unmask the migrant?
It all started when his fingerprints were compared with those on the document in the child’s name. When they did not coincide, it was a matter of time to discover the truth.
According to the New York Times, the Brazilian migrant was arrested last September, “after he was observed ‘using the identity of the victim’ to enter a secure area of the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.”
Guedes was charged with fraud, aggravated identity theft, impersonation of a US citizen and fraudulent entry into a secure space at an airport.
“I had a dream, and the dream is over”commented the defendant according to the newspaper Houston Chronicle.
The agents who arrested him detailed that Guedes said “Now I have to face reality”.
Nowadays, Ricardo César Guedes remains detained awaiting trial.
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