June 18, 2011

Whoops.

The Miami Herald reports that a man who could not get a job as a flight attendant using his own identity managed to get the job using a stolen identity that should have also been disqualified.

Jophan Porter is an immigrant from Guyana. The article doesn't mention what his immigration status actually is (or was when he applied for the job), but presumably it disqualified him from working on airplanes in our post 9-11 mindset.

So he stole the identity of one Anthony Frair.  But Frair had an arrest record!
Frair was arrested four times in Largo, in Pinellas County, between January and October 2008 on charges of criminal mischief, domestic battery, witness tampering and battery with a deadly weapon. - The Miami Herald
This should have disqualified him - or anyone from using his identity - from getting a job at an airline. It's a clear security risk, and should have raised all kinds of red flags.  It's like a jewel thief deciding to hide his identity by pretending to be a mugger.

Instead, Porter, as Frair, has been working as a flight attendant.

Friar doesn't know Porter, and doesn't know how Porter ended up with his identity.  The theft came to light when Frair, now living in New York, applied for food stamps.  He must have been surprised when he was rejected for being gainfully employed at a job he couldn't possibly hold.

Porter's being detained by immigration, and has been charged with possessing false government IDs, forgery, and possessing stolen driver's licenses.

No one has explained how he passed the background checks that should have uncovered Frair's record, if not Porter's actual identity.  But their can be no doubt that someone really screwed the pooch on this one.

And the question on everybody's mind - will the story translate as a musical?

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