ASHEVILLE, N.C. – James Timothy Wilson, 66, of Marion, N.C. was sentenced today to 45 months in prison on passport fraud and aggravated identity theft charges, announced Jill Westmoreland Rose, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Wilson was also ordered to serve two years under court supervision after he is released from prison.
Thomas Haycraft, Special Agent in Charge of the Washington Field Office, U.S. Department of State, Diplomatic Security Service and Thomas J. Holloman III, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, Charlotte Field Office (IRS-CI) join U.S. Attorney Rose in making today’s announcement.
According to filed plea documents and today’s sentencing hearing, in June 2009, Wilson stole the identities of two individuals who were employed by Henderson-based Quality Rubber Manufacturing Company Inc. (QRMC), a company previously owned by Wilson. Using the stolen information, Wilson obtained North Carolina Driver’s Licenses and birth certificates in each of the victim’s name, which he then used as proof of identity to apply for and fraudulently obtain U.S. passports. According to court records, Wilson used the fraudulent passports to fly internationally, including to Colombia and Mexico.
According to court records, Wilson accessed and used without permission a third individual’s passport to fly internationally. The victim, who also worked at QRMC, discovered his passport was missing after he had left it on his desk at work. Later, the victim discovered his passport had been returned, and noticed the pages were stamped, indicating international travel. Wilson had used that victim’s passport to fly to Colombia and to Costa Rica.
In announcing today’s sentence, U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger said that Wilson engaged “in a pattern of dishonesty,” and ordered Wilson to pay $3,000 fine in addition to the prison term imposed.
Wilson pleaded guilty in February 2016 to three counts of making a false statement on an application and two counts of aggravated identity theft.
The investigation was handled by the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service and IRS-CI.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Don Gast, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Asheville, is prosecuting the case.