He worked in American Airlines for 23 years under a false identity
United Airlines has terminated the service of a veteran flight attendant, after it was discovered that he had been working for it under a false identity for 23 years.
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A federal court record stated that the flight attendant stole the identity of a dead American child and used a pseudonym to work for United Airlines for more than two decades, according to the American “Business Insider” website and the agency “Sputnik.”
In a complaint filed with the US District Court, DSS investigators accused flight attendant Ricardo Cesar Guedes, a Brazilian citizen, of stealing the identity of the deceased American child, William Erickson Ladd.
The complaint said Geddes joined the company as Eric Ladd and used the stolen identity to illegally work for United Airlines.
The complaint indicated that the child, William Erickson Ladd, was born in 1974 and died in a car accident in 1979 in Washington state, a month before his fifth birthday, his mother confirmed last July.
Investigators allege Ricardo Cesar Guedes, born in Sao Paulo in 1972, but obtained Ladd's identity in 1998 when he successfully applied for a US passport using his name. Since then, Guedes has renewed his passport six times.
But in December 2020, the US State Department flagged Geddes' passport renewal application with "various indications of fraud", and a criminal investigation was opened.
The agents were able to trace Geddes to Brazil with the fingerprints he made on his Brazilian identity document in the 1990s, according to the complaint.
Court documents said CBP technical staff compared these fingerprints to the kit Geddes provided to check his United Airlines recruitment background and confirmed they matched.
The US carrier confirmed that it has comprehensive verification procedures for new employees who comply with federal legal requirements.
Several charges were brought against Geddes, including making a false statement in a passport application, falsely impersonating a US citizen, and entering a secure area of the airport with false pretenses.
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