By Bill Lindelof and Sam Stanton
blindelof@sacbee.com
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| Suspect Joseph Kidd, above |
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| Larry Smith |
Deputies hope that the arrest of Joseph Kidd on Tuesday has put to rest a nightmare of identity theft for a Florida man.
Kidd, 56, a homeless Auburn man, was arrested by Placer County Sheriff's deputies on suspicion of identity theft, welfare fraud and grand theft.
Deputies allege that for 17 years Kidd has told people he was Larry Smith of Florida. During that time, Smith has been trying to clear his name.
"This will take me years to unravel," Detective Jim Hudson said this morning. "I will delay my retirement to fix this if I have to before this gets right. I will not retire until this is fixed."
Hudson said he spoke to the real Larry Smith this morning and "he told me last night was the best night's sleep he's had in years."
"He spent eight days in jail in Florida, he's had his license suspended, he's had his tax filings taken away from him," Hudson said. "He lives in his house in fear of being arrested on a daily basis."
The real Larry Smith has no criminal record. He told Hudson that he was jailed for 8 days, had to deal with liens, was denied medical care and had his license suspended -- all because he suspects Kidd assumed his identity.
Smith contacted law enforcement agencies across the country in an effort to clear his name to no avail. Kidd, deputies said, has been arrested numerous times, sent to state prison, paroled, obtained welfare and Medicare benefits and gotten married as Larry Smith.
On Tuesday, the Placer County Sheriff's Department, with help from the Sacramento Police Department, arrested Kidd along New Airport Road. After reviewing welfare records, it was determined that Kidd had filed for benefits using a false name.
Further investigation unraveled Kidd's nearly two decades of alleged identity theft. Deputies familiar with Auburn-area transients recognized Kidd's mug shot as a man who called himself Larry Smith.
The real Larry Smith, a 66-year-old retiree who lives near Fort Myers, Fla., said in a telephone interview today that he has spent years trying to convince people that he was not the man who had racekd up a series of unpaid bills at car dealers, cell phone companies and hospitals, and that when he got hold of Hudson Tuesday he knew he finally would get some relief.
"He's like Superman to me, he's like Elliott Ness," Smith said. "He called me and wanted to know what was going on, he told me. 'I'm going to go out and get this SOB right now,' and he did, he went out and got him right away."
Call The Bee's Bill Lindelof, (916) 321-1079.
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