ANCESTRY SEARCH TURNS UP MAN WHO STOLE DEAD CHILD’S IDENTITY

April 14, 2017

A man who assumed the identity of a baby who died in 1972 was arrested on charges of Social Security fraud and aggravated identity theft after the child’s aunt discovered the ruse through Ancestry.com.

Prosecutors said Jon Vincent stole Nathan Laskoski’s identity after escaping from a halfway house in March 1996 and used his new name to start another life. Vincent had been convicted of indecency with a child. The real Nathan Laskoski died at age 2 months in 1972. Authorities said Vincent first obtained a Social Security card as Laskoski in 1996. He held jobs, received a driver’s license and married and divorced as Laskoski.

When Nathan’s aunt did a search on Ancestry.com, a genealogy website, his name came up as a “green” leaf on the website, meaning public records showed he was alive. The aunt told Nathan’s mother, who did more research and learned that someone had obtained a Social Security card under her son’s name. Nathan’s mother also found public marriage and divorce records, and filed an identity theft complaint with the Social Security Administration.