United Flight Attendant Charged With Using False Name, Identity

In a bizarre story, a man who worked as a United Airlines flight attendant for 23 years is facing federal charges that he stole his name and identity from a deceased child.

Federal authorities say Ricardo Guedes, a native of Brazil, used the name of William Ladd – an American child who died in a car accident at the age of four in 1979 – to work with United since 1998, according to Business Insider.

According to a complaint filed in Houston’s U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Guedes went by the name of Eric Ladd – the child’s middle name – to gain employment with the airline.

He somehow was able to obtain a passport in Ladd’s name and was able to renew it six times over 20 years until the U.S. State Department noticed what Business Insider called “fraud indicators” and began to investigate further.

Federal authorities found that Guedes submitted fingerprints in his native Brazil in the early ‘90s in order to obtain a national identity document. Customs and Border Protection agents then compared his fingerprints for the Brazilian document to the fingerprints he was required to submit to work for United and found a match.

Guedes was charged with identity theft, providing a false statement in a passport application, and entering an airport secure area under false pretenses.

His employment with United has been terminated by the airline.