By Queenie Wong
qwong@sacbee.com
A 55-year-old Madison man has been convicted of using his son's Social Security number to avoid losing benefits, according to the Yolo County District Attorney's office.
It was the second time the man had fraudulently used his son's Social Security number, the DA said.
Thomas Wesley Bertram was convicted Wednesday on one felony count of identity theft and faces three years in state prison, the release states.
"There is no justification for economically victimizing anyone, much less your own child," Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig said in a statement. "Identity theft is a danger that we all have to protect against, but this man violated a fundamental duty as a parent and the jury held him accountable."
The release gives this chain of events:
In January 2009, Bertram was hired as a commercial truck driver at a farming operation. He used his son's Social Security number while filling out the employment paperwork to avoid losing his own Social Security benefits and to avoid tax liability.
When the son discovered that his father had stolen his identity while attempting to apply for unemployment benefits, he contacted the Yolo County Sheriff's Department.
Bertram was arrested on June 20, but he told his son that he never worked for the farming operation.
During a confrontation between the two, Bertram blamed the identity theft on an ex-brother-in-law or an illegal immigrant. The farm owner told Yolo County Sheriff detectives that he had know the elder Bertram since high school and that Bertram had worked on the farm in 2009.
This is the second time Bertram was arrested for stealing his son's identity.
In 2004, he tried to apply for a credit card at the Home Depot in Woodland using his son's Social Security number. He admitted to using the number, but claimed that he didn't know which number was his at the time.
Bertram is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 15.
Call The Bee's Queenie Wong, (916) 321-1008.
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