A Utah County man suspected of using his dead son's identity to hold jobs, obtain multiple licenses and buy a home was arrested Thursday.
David Frank Pflegl II died in a car crash in Canada at age 19, said Utah Department of Public Safety investigator Scott Nesbitt. His father was with him during the 1987 wreck but survived.
About 15 years ago, the elder David Frank Pflegl used his son's name to get an Oregon driver license after his own was suspended, Nesbitt said.
"This whole thing started when he got too many tickets in Oregon," Nesbitt said. "He wanted to have a license."
Pflegl moved to Lindon about a decade ago with his wife and children. He owns a temporary power supply company in the construction industry. About 10 years ago, he applied for a $140,000 home mortgage in his dead son's name because he had poor credit history, Nesbitt said.
Though he usually lived under his own name, the 63-year-old Pflegl continued to use his late son's name and Social Security number to buy vehicles, obtain hunting and fishing licenses and hold jobs, Nesbitt said. As a result, there are warrants for his dead son's arrest.
Oregon state police caught the deception previously using facial recognition software, and the U.S. State Department got involved because Pflegl had a passport in his son's name, Nesbitt said. He was indicted in December on federal charges of giving a false statement in New Hampshire, and state department authorities expanded the case to Utah, where investigators believe there may still be more fraudulently obtained loans, Nesbitt said.
Though identity theft is common, something "like this, where someone is using their own dead children's identity ... this is the first one I can remember," he said.
After a month-long Utah investigation, Pflegl was arrested by state troopers Thursday and booked into the Utah County Jail on suspicion of communication fraud, identity theft and forgery.
