Kevin Wehner is a man who had the nightmare experience of seeing his own photo flash across the national news as a suspect in the September 13th murder of a Miami police officer and the shooting of three other policemen. Imagine his horror when his own mother telephoned him to ask why he was on the television, why he was accused of murder, what was going on. On that Thursday morning in September, Wehner was some 350 miles away from the scene of the crime, in his home in Jacksonville, Florida. Turning to his wife and two small children, Wehner dialed 911, hoping to stave off additional drama as law enforcement went into overdrive to find the perpetrator. Within minutes, police arrived at his home. They quickly handcuffed and put him into the back of a patrol car while his family watched.
For several years, Wehner has been battling identity theft. One man, Shawn Labeet, apparently created a new identity in Florida using Wehner's personal information of birth date and Social Security numbers. Labeet even had a Florida driver's license created in Wehner's name, but with Labeet's own photo and address on it. Since 2006, when Wehner first was notified of some cars in Miami-Dade being registered in his name, Wehner had done everything a victim of identity theft is supposed to: creating police reports, visiting the Department of Motor Vehicles, filing claims, disputing charges. He was diligent, so diligent that upon one visit to the DMV, he was asked to provide a photo to show that the Wehner Miami driver's license was created for a different man. It was that new photo that appeared on the news after Labeet shot and killed the police officer in Miami.
Fortunately, due to Wehner's meticulous reporting of his identity theft problem, he was able to prove to the police in Jacksonville his innocence and he was released within a few hours. But sadly the repercussions of this incident didn't abate as quickly. A job offer was rescinded and Wehner's reputational damage may not be repaired for many years.
And subsequent law enforcement records are demonstrating how their poor response to Wehner's identity theft reports allowed Labeet to continue using the stolen identity to create a driver's license, apply for credit and purchase a "small arsenal of guns", all in Wehner's name.
Watch the TV report from Miami station CBS 4. It's just an unbelievable story of an innocent man's reputation being destroyed, with failure after failure in the "system" to help him restore his name.