Bulgarian Faces Sentencing in Ohio Identity Theft

Doitchin Krastev (R) used Jason Evers' name to obtain a birth certificate, Social Security number, Oregon driver's license, voter registration card and passport. File photo

A Bulgarian man, who pleaded guilty to stealing the identity of a dead Ohio boy, is about to hear his verdict delivered on Thursday by US District Court in Portland.

Doitchin Krastev pleaded guilty in November to passport fraud and aggravated identity theft. He confessed he had stolen identity of Jason Evers, a three-year-old boy who was murdered in 1982, in 1996, and used it to get a job with the Oregon Liquor Control Commission.

Doitchin Krastev also used Evers' name to obtain a birth certificate, Social Security number, Oregon driver's license, voter registration card and passport, according to public records and government accounts.

Krastev used the Evers name to go to work eight years ago for the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, the agency that regulates the state's sales of alcohol. But the lies came back to haunt him last spring, when federal agents ran the identifications of dead Americans against a database of new passport applications.

Agents arrested Krastev in Idaho back in the spring of 2010 after a routine check of the passport application by the U.S. State Department's Diplomatic Security Service. The suspect however refused to tell the government his real name, citing what he described as "safety issues."

This forced federal prosecutors to call him "John Doe" in their court filings as federal agents issued bulletins with Krastev's photo to see if anyone knew his real identity.

The 37 year-old Bulgarian man has agreed to meet with the family of the late Jason Evers at his sentencing and apologize.

He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in federal prison.

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