Napoleon Gonzalez, Identity Theft, Maine 2023

BANGOR, Maine – An Etna man has been sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to repay $175,757 for identity theft, passport fraud, Social Security fraud, and mail fraud.

Napoleon Gonzalez, 87, was found guilty of six federal charges on August 18, 2023, following a two-day trial in U.S. District Court in Bangor.

U.S. District Judge John A. Woodcock, Jr. ordered Gonzalez to pay $175,757 in restitution to the Social Security Administration (SSA) and sentenced him to five years of probation, citing his age and health.

According to court records, Gonzalez took on the identity of his brother, Guillermo, who had died as an infant in 1939. In 1981, Gonzalez applied for a Social Security number in his deceased brother’s name and filed applications for Social Security retirement benefits in his own name in 1999 and in his brother’s name in 2001.

Over the years, Gonzalez obtained multiple passports bearing Guillermo Gonzalez’s name, most recently in October 2017, a passport he used to travel to Canada in July 2018.

Gonzalez collected retirement benefits under both identities until March 2020, when investigators requested the suspension of benefits being paid to Guillermo Gonzalez pending investigation. Gonzalez mailed a letter to the Social Security Administration, signing the name Guillermo Gonzalez and the Social Security number assigned to that identity, asking for an explanation for the suspension.

‘The jury conviction and this sentence holds Napoleon Gonzalez accountable for his intolerable crimes,’ said Hannibal ‘Mike’ Ware, Acting Inspector General for the Social Security Administration (SSA). ‘Using a Social Security number (SSN) not assigned to him, Gonzalez furnished false information and concealed information to fraudulently obtain Social Security benefits.’

The Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General, the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, and the Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles Division of Enforcement, Anti-Theft and Regulations investigated this case.

Napoleon Gonzalez, 87, defendant’s real full name

Exact criminal charges: identity theft, passport fraud, Social Security fraud, and mail fraud

City and state: Bangor, Maine

Exact date: August 18, 2023

Sentence or outcome: Five years of probation and ordered to repay $175,757 in restitution

Dollar amounts: $175,757 in restitution

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