A Long Island dad not only named his boy after him, but went one step further and took over his entire identity, police say.
Ricky Lynch Sr., 47, of Freeport, was arrested Tuesday morning for identity theft after he allegedly stole his son’s identity.
The arrest comes a few months after Ricky Lynch Jr., 27, of Coram, alerted police that he thought his father used his Social Security number and obtained a New York State Driver License.
Lynch Jr. believes his father has been using his Social Security Number since 1995 and has obtained loans and cashed checks using the stolen information, officials said.
Detectives determined that Lynch Sr. received traffic summonses while using the driver license he obtained with his son’s information.
Lynch Jr., was unaware that summonses were issued in his name and that his license was suspended -- resulting in his auto insurance being dropped. Lynch Jr. estimates his losses to be approximately $78,000.
Detectives from the the Suffolk County Police Department's Identity Theft Unit, working with investigators from the New York Department of Motor Vehicles, arrested Ricky Lynch Sr. after an approximately five-month investigation.
Lynch Sr. also uses numerous aliases and has past arrests for similar frauds, investigators said.
He was taken to the Sixth Precinct in Selden and was charged with Identity Theft 1st Degree, Forgery 2nd Degree, and Tampering with Public Records 1st Degree. He will be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip on Wednesday, July 28.
