Take Your Blood Pressure Meds Before You Read This

Cross-posted from Freedom Folks Blog

Source: AccessNorthGA (H/T: Immigration News Daily)

When Jason Smith contacted the Internal Revenue Service to find out why his $600 tax refund hadn't arrived, he received a nasty surprise: The government was waiting for him to pony up $12,000 in back taxes.

As it turned out, the Danielsville, Ga., man was not to blame. Another "Jason Smith" racked up the unpaid taxes. An illegal immigrant named Nohe Gomez Hernandez had used Smith's Social Security number to get a job at a chicken plant in Bethlehem, Ga., and worked there under that false name for at least three years, long enough to be promoted from line worker to supervisor.

Awful enough, right? But wait 'til you hear what Hernandez's lawyer is arguing:

Defense attorney Jana Whaley of Royston, Ga., contends that Hernandez' actions aren't covered by the state law, which was created to keep people from stealing others' personal information and using it to pillage bank accounts or run up credit card bills.

*SNIP*

Hernandez used Smith's name and Social Security number solely to get a job for his family and never tried to interfere with Smith's credit or accounts, Whaley said.

Yes. You read that right. His attorney had the gall to state that because Hernandez used the stolen social security number of Jason Smith to work, not run up credit card bills, he hasn't committed identity theft.

However...

After the IRS told Smith that he owed the government thousands in back taxes, he requested his work history from the federal agency. It said that Smith, who works in a commissary at the Navy School in Athens, Ga., was also working at Harrison Poultry, about 20 miles away in Bethlehem, Ga.

The IRS said Smith owed back taxes because the two full-time jobs under his name forced him into a higher tax bracket, said District Attorney Robert Lavender.

So this poor guy's taxes were screwed up because Hernandez stole his social security number. That was no accident. Smith is going through this whole ordeal because Hernandez stole his social security number and, therefore, his identity.

Hernandez "was known by his employer as Jason Smith and even had the nerve to meet with law enforcement in a smock that had the name 'Jason' sewn on. No doubt, the appellant intended to assume the identity of the victim," Assistant District Attorney James Webb wrote in a court brief.

Give me a break. It doesn't get any clearer than this.

Can attorneys get any more disgustingly, despicably slimy than trying to get an illegal alien off the hook for stealing the identity of an American citizen?

Never mind. Don't asnwer that.

Technorati Tags
Illegal Immigration * Illegal Aliens * Identity Theft * Crime