Think your family's dysfunctional? Unless Dad stole your identity, this family's got yours beat.

IdentityTheft — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 19:19:00 GMT

Paul L. Kelly used to be the district attorney in Eau Claire County, Wisconsin. After that he was an attorney in private practice. He was a dad and grandpa.

As of yesterday, though, he’s a convicted felon found guilty of 35 of 43 charges of identity theft, fraud and forgery. The victim of these crimes is Kori L. Kelly, Paul L. Kelly’s daughter. More charges pertaining to his grandson are pending.

According to the criminal complaint, Kelly said he had power of attorney for his daughter, who then lived in Colorado. He bought a $7,500 car and a $7,200 conversion van. He also took out a $128,000 mortgage to buy a house in her name. The he filed Chapter 13 bankruptcy on his daughter’s behalf.

There may yet be a second trial to determine Paul L. Kelly’s guilt or innocence on four more charges that he committed additional crimes of the same nature using his grandson’s identity.

Kelly’s accused of using his grandson’s Social Security number on an application for a $56,000 loan to buy a piece of land. He again claimed to have power of attorney, but said on the application his grandson was a 25-year-old construction worker.

To strengthen the ruse, Kelly took forged W-2s, employment records and another man who posed as Kelly’s grandson.

The grandson was 8 years old at the time the crimes were committed.

Kelly was Eau Claire County district attorney from 1965 to 1968. He was a private practitioner until 1982 when he was disbarred under accusations of unprofessional conduct, misusing clients’ funds and filing false reports.

ID theft : child identity theft, Paul L. Kelly

Think your family's dysfunctional? Unless Dad stole your identity, this family's got yours beat.