New year, new you? Not so fast! Theft of Identity in Kentucky

If, like many people, on January 1st of each year you set out to recreate and redefine yourself, please make sure you don’t commit a felony. Diets and learning new hobbies are all well and good but if your new year’s resolution involves the assumption of a new nom de guerre, you might be setting yourself up for jail time.

A person is guilty of Theft of Identity, a class D felony punishable by 1-5 years, when they knowingly use or possess another’s name and any other information which can be used to identify that other person, for the purpose of theft, avoiding detection, or commercial or political benefit.

Sure, we all want to be Beyonce or Ryan Reynolds at times, but if you’ve been stopped for a speeding ticket and give officers your 2022 alias of Gandalf the Grey and happen also to provide Sir Ian McKellen’s phone number to police, you might be committing a felony. Actually, though the plain language of the criminal statute says “and any other information”, there has yet to be an appellate case confirming that at least two bits of information of another must be used before you can be convicted. So, a lower trial court could very well convict you of a felony simply for the use of a name that is not legally your own! Moreover, appellate courts also have yet to confirm that the two identifying bits of information have to refer to the same person. So, if you give your name as Napoleon Bonaparte but give George Washington’s Mount Vernon address, you might still be convicted! Sadly, over-zealous prosecutors do make use of these ambiguities and do charge people for giving identifying information of different people – look, it’s hard to remember your brother’s social security number at times.

Additionally, if you fail provide police your legal name after they’ve warned you not to do that, you’ve also committed the misdemeanor of Giving False Identifying Information to a Police Officer. By the way, you do have to give police officers your name if they ask, but you don’t have to answer any questions beyond that. Also, don’t consent to anything, ask if you can leave and leave if you can, call an attorney, and openly record the interaction (you have the right to).

As we enter a new year, we at Campbell, Rogers & Stacy encourage you to resolve to be a better version of you, but please, do not commit a felony on your path to self-improvement.

Happy New Years!