Ancestry.com bust: Dad stole dead man's ID in 20-year ruse, cops say
TAMPA BAY, Fla. -- Police say the nephew of a dead man exploring his family history on the popular genealogy website Ancestry.com discovered that another man had been using his uncle's identity for more than two decades.
CBS affiliate WTSP reports that an Indiana man, whose birth name is Richard Hoagland, allegedly lived as Terry Symansky, an Ohio man who died in 1991. Hoagland had been married before disappearing in the early 1990s. He was declared legally dead in 2003.
Police have not said if they know why Hoagland would might have fled his life in Indiana.
In Florida, he began using Symansky's identity more than 20 years ago, eventually marrying under the false name, fathering a child and even getting a pilot's license, says Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco.
"Richard Hoagland takes Terry Symansky's death certificate to apply for birth certificate from Ohio. He uses that birth certificate to apply by mail for a driver's license in Alabama. He then uses the Alabama driver's license to apply for Florida's driver's license," Nocco said during a press conference Thursday.
But it wasn't seasoned detectives who realized a man had taken Symansky's identity, it was the dead man's nephew, exploring his lineage on Ancestry.com.
"He looks up (the) real uncle and sees he dies in 1991 then scrolls down page and sees documentation he was remarried in Pasco County and has a pilot license," Nocco said.
Symansky's family contacted police, who informed Hoagland's wife about his real identity. The Tampa Bay Times reports she then found documents related to his true identity in a briefcase in their attic, as well as the deed to property in Louisiana.
Hoagland was arrested Wednesday and charged with fraudulent use of personal identification.