The New Identity Change

In the old days, before the dawning of the “Information Age”, when criminals would commit a crime, they would be fugitives on the run for a long time; laying low. They would re-emerge after hiding out for a number of years and slowly re-make their empire. The times have changed, and so have the criminals. Criminals now brazenly go directly to court to change their names and escape police records.

When police bring someone in, obviously they remember a face, but after it has been a long time they simply look someone’s name up to see who’s who. A violent gang member who was arrested by police recently changed his name to Tony Soprano, after the popular Sopranos television show character. The police did not know him as Tony Soprano though. After his name change, if the police were to pull him over and run his license, they would have no record of “Tony Soprano” a being violent criminal. When they run someone’s license, if the person comes back as a past felon, they will approach with caution. Tony Soprano had no record though, and they probably just laughed about the irony of his name being the same as a murderous television show character’s. Little do they know he likely is armed.

There is another concern to think about. Many gun stores only I.D. people to make sure they are of age to buy a gun and are not a convicted felon. If the gang member walked into the store and tried to buy a gun, the staff would screen and ask him why he wasted the gas to come to their store. If Tony Soprano walked into the store, they would screen him, find nothing, ask him about his name, and send him on his way his a shiny new pistol. Very few places will actually identity someone by their social security number, which would not change with their name.

These are scary things to think about, but they do happen. There was a story recently that will raise hairs on parents. A convicted pedophile was released from jail recently, and began rehabbing his life. He found that with his spotted past, he couldn’t get a job or do much of anything. He decided to change his name to “spiritually start over”. Little did he know he started over more than just in a spiritual way. He soon found with his new name having no links to his previous name, he wasn’t tagged as a child molester everywhere and was able to do things again. Apparently, rehab didn’t work, and he got back into his old ways again. With his new lily white spotless identity, the man decided to adopt an orphan and he was able to do so. Needless to say, he fell back into his old ways and was again arrested for child molestation. Even though he was caught, it makes no difference; that child will never be the same. By getting a new name, these people get to start over.

People all over are concerned about privacy, and rightfully so. Unfortunately, some people screw it up for everyone. These criminals are making law enforcement have to keep more meticulous records on everyone, which could be a good thing.

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