Federal Aggravated Identity Theft Law Covers Stealing Identity of Dead Person

The federal aggravated identity theft statute makes it a crime to use a dead person’s identity, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held May 21 (United States v. Zuniga-Arteaga, 11th Cir., No. 11-11673).

The statute, 18 U.S.C. §1028A(a)(1), provides a mandatory consecutive two-year prison term for someone who, “during and in relation to” fraud and certain other felonies, “knowingly transfers, possesses, or uses, without lawful authority, a means of identification of another person.”

In the case before the Eleventh circuit, Graciela Zuniga-Arteaga was convicted of aggravated identity theft, in violation of Section 1028A(a)(1). ...