John Robert Skelton displayed callous efficiency, according to authorities, as he assumed the identity of a deceased aide to a United States senator.
The native of Great Britain scoured the Internet, chose a person with an English-sounding name, obtained his college transcripts and memorized an alternate life story. He got a birth certificate, a Maryland driver's license and a United States passport in the name of Kurt Branham, with an address on Wheeling Street in Baltimore's Federal Hill neighborhood.
But Skelton made a tiny error: On his passport application, he listed his eyes as blue.
Branham's eyes were brown.
That detail was part of what led federal agents to arrest and charge Skelton as he returned to BWI Airport from a trip to London on Monday. In court documents, they said it helped prove that the man was the living Skelton from Yorkshire and not the dead Branham from Washington.
Agents with the U.S. State Department and the Customs and Border Protection agency went as far as to interview Branham's surviving relatives in West Virginia to confirm that the man who died in 1994 at the age of 28 did indeed have brown eyes.
"Stealing the identity of a deceased citizen is despicable," Stephen Dearborn, the acting Customs and Border Protection director of the Port of Baltimore, said in a statement. "We are very pleased to end Mr. Skelton's charade."
Branham, a Kentucky native, had lived in Washington for five years before his death and had worked for Sen. Mitch McConnell on issues such as missing and abused children, according to his obituary published in The Washington Post. A spokesman for the senator said his office would not comment.
Branham's sister, Rhonda Lee Bocook, said that relatives learned of the apparent identity theft just a few weeks ago and that it brought back a torrent of grief. "You hear about stuff like this all the time in the papers," she said. "I just think it's horrible."
Bocook said she wants to see a picture of the suspect — federal authorities did not make one public — so she could compare Skelton to Branham. "We asked if the guy looked like Kurt, and the agent said, 'No, he didn't.'"
It's unclear what Skelton did in Baltimore. He told federal agents that he taught English in Colombia between 2000 and 2005, but what he did in the years after that are mystery. He lived in a $284,000 rowhouse on narrow Wheeling Street, between Light and Charles streets, three blocks from Cross Street Market.
The owner of the house is listed as Rodney Moulds, who, in a brief telephone interview confirmed that he was the same man identified by federal agents as Robert Moulds, who had traveled with Skelton to London and was with him when he got detained.
Moulds said he didn't know anyone by the name "Skelton" but did know "Branham." When asked for additional details, he said, "I really don't have anything to say, I'm sorry."
Documents filed by investigators in the U.S. District Court in Baltimore say the alleged ruse started over a romantic relationship. They said Skelton met a companion while visiting America on his British passport in 2005 and wanted to stay. According to court papers, Branham said he could not remain in the United States because he had tested HIV-positive.
Agents said that a friend helped him compile a list of possible identities to assume and that Skelton chose Branham because it "was the most English-sounding name of the group."
The criminal complaint written by Special Agent Michael Timms, an investigator with the U.S. State Department, says Skelton obtained Branham's college transcripts over the Internet and "was able to provide many details that matched what was known about the life of Kurt Branham."
That information contained Branham's Social Security number and other personal information, and agents said in court documents that Skelton was then able to obtain a birth certificate and a Maryland driver's license.
He applied for a passport through a company called Urgent Passport Services Inc. and got the document on Sept. 14, 2005, according to the court papers.
Federal authorities are vague about when they first realized that the passport was issued in error. In court documents, they say that in 2005 officials began comparing Social Security numbers listed on passport applications to a master death list with the Social Security Administration.
It wasn't until Dec. 9, 2009, that officials linked Skelton's passport to Branham and put out an alert. Court documents state that at least two other individuals had used Branham's Social Security number to apply for passports, though it's not clear whether they were issued.
On July 2, a customs agent at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport called the State Department to tell them that a man using a passport that was on the watch list was about to fly to London that night and return on Monday . Court papers say authorities allowed him to leave but began an investigation that included confirming Branham's death and talking to his relatives.
The agents reconfirmed that Branham had brown eyes, conflicting with the "blue eyes" Skelton had listed on his passport application. Court documents note that Skelton had used the passport to travel internationally many times since 2005, but this was the first time he was stopped.
Agents said they detained him when he got off the plane at BWI and charged him with identity theft and fraud in connection with using a false Social Security number. Prosecutors said Skelton was released Thursday on two $50,000 bonds, and will be placed under electronic monitoring while surrendering passports, according to the Associated Press. The charges he faces can bring up to 30 years in prison — and then will be sent to customs officials for possible deportation.