A Daytona Beach man was sentenced to 25 years in jail last week for stealing the identity of a comatose Texas man, according to the State Attorney’s Office.
SAO officials stated on Monday that the Daytona Beach man, Donald Wood, 40, stole the unconscious man’s identity in 2021 and used the personal information to obtain loans for multiple automobiles.
“Furthermore, he hacked into our victim’s bank account and tried to refinance his own house with this information he fraudulently obtained,” according to the statement.
According to SAO officials, investigators started investigating the matter in 2022 and contacted the victim’s relatives.
However, investigators learned that the family had been locked out of their bank account and received bills from “numerous financial institutions,” including a $3000 bogus hospital bill.
“Additionally, Wood and his accomplices applied for credit under the victim’s name for $75,000,” according to the statement.
Investigators eventually determined that these occurrences were linked to Wood, but they also found several more victims from across the United States.
As a result, Wood was arrested in April 2022, and more investigations have been launched against him and his accomplices in these cases.
But that’s not all: SAO officials said that one of its detectives, Diego Besse, worked to assist the Texas man and his family in recovering from the identity theft.
“(Besse) has written letters and personally called numerous credit card companies, bank entities, car dealerships, and insurance companies to provide proof to ensure the family’s fraudulent financial liabilities were removed and their assets and credit reinstated,” said SAO officials.
On September 27, Wood pleaded guilty to the following charges:
- Organized scheme to defraud more than $50,000.
- Fraudulent use of a specific individual’s personal identification information—14 counts
- Fraudulent use of personally identifiable information—three counts
- Tampering in felony second-degree proceeding—two counts
- Mortgage Fraud