Though Felix Montes-Rodriguez admitted to using somebody else’s Social Security number on the car loan application he submitted to Hajek Chevrolet, a Colorado court found him innocent of criminal impersonation.
In an Oct. 25 ruling, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled 4-3 in favor of Montes-Rodriguez because some of the information on the credit app was correct.
“He gave his correct address, birth date and place of employment,” wrote Justice Michael Bender. “Most importantly, he gave his correct name. In the face of so much accurate identifying information, we cannot conclude that Montes-Rodriguez pretended to be another person in his loan application simply because he supplied a false Social Security number. Hence, we conclude that Montes-Rodriguez did not assume a false identity.”
Though Colorado prosecutors do not believe the Supreme Court’s decision will have a far-reaching effect, the ruling makes me pretty nervous.
