Mesa man arrested, accused of using stolen identity of brother for 28 years

PHOENIX — An 89-year-old Mesa man was arrested and charged with forgery and fraud schemes after Arizona Department of Transportation detectives found he’d allegedly been using a stolen identity for the past 28 years.

Frank Becht’s brother died in 1989 and he had been using his name, date of birth and Social Security number for nearly 30 years to collect nearly $300,000 in Social Security benefits.

ADOT’s facial recognition system alerted them and found his photo on both his profile and the profile of his brother’s identity.

Their investigation found that the Social Security Administration did not know of his brother’s death.

Becht was also using the identity on credit cards and state-issued IDs in Maryland, Virginia and Nevada.

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