New Zealand Lawmaker Stole Dead Baby's Identity

David Garrett resigns from party in disgrace
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 17, 2010 10:23 AM CDT
New Zealand Lawmaker Stole Dead Baby's Identity
David Garrett, center, a New Zealand lawmaker with the minor Act Party, is followed by the media as he leaves the Christchurch Airport Friday, Sept. 17, 2010, after resigning from his party.   (AP Photo/New Zealand Herald, Photo Simon Baker)

New Zealand lawmaker David Garrett resigned from his party today, two days after revealing that he’d once used a dead baby’s identity to obtain a passport. Garrett pulled off the scam in 1984, after reading how in a thriller novel. He trolled a graveyard looking for someone with a similar birthday, copied the details, obtained the child’s birth certificate, and used it to gain a passport.

Garrett’s crime was discovered in 2005, but the judge agreed to suppress the case to spare Garrett his reputation. He did so in part because Garrett said he had a clean record—which turned out to be untrue. He was convicted of assault in 2002. “I wish to reiterate my profound regret,” Garrett said, according to the New Zealand Herald. “My political career is almost certainly over.” (For more stories on identity theft, click here.)

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