Faux Joe no average foe for this Joe

Imagine that, long ago, someone stole your wallet and assumed your identity.

But this identity theft didn't lead to you having to make dozens of tedious calls to cancel credit cards or to call off pricey purchases or to stave off debt collectors.

It led to jail.

It happened to the real Joe Salazar of Omaha — twice.

Last week, Salazar, 38, spent a night in the Douglas County Jail after he and his girlfriend called Omaha police to report a burglary.

Ten months ago, he spent two weeks, including Christmas and New Year's Day, in jail after being pulled over for speeding.

The reason: Every time Joe Salazar comes in contact with law enforcement, police discover there's an arrest warrant out for a Joe Salazar for failing to appear for sentencing in a 2002 drug case.

What they don't know is that the warrant isn't for that Joe. It's for Faux Joe, an unknown impostor who had stolen the real Joe Salazar's wallet, identification, date of birth, Social Security number and other vitals years ago.

Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine, a prosecutor for more than two decades, calls it one of the most extreme examples of identity theft he has seen — a “horrible” ordeal that has cost Salazar his good name, his time and his freedom.

Now, authorities are scrambling to figure out who Faux Joe is, how he got away with his Joe pose, and how they can stop Real Joe from being jailed again.

Real Joe, who has never been in real trouble before, would like to know.

“It's frustrating, because you know there's nothing you can say or do to convince (police),” Salazar said. “I tell them ‘You've got the wrong guy.' But I'm sure they hear that all the time.”

Salazar's attorney, Jim Reisinger, said the case is confounding in that authorities are acting on warrant information that is based on Real Joe's identification. So when they come in contact with Real Joe, they automatically believe he is the wanted man.

“You can imagine the frustration for Joe,” Reisinger said. “It's just a (lousy) reality he has to deal with.”

Here's how that reality has played out:

Late 2001 or early 2002: Salazar leaves his wallet behind at an Omaha restaurant. He goes back to retrieve it, only to find that it's gone.

Oct. 2, 2002: Police arrest a man for cocaine possession, a felony, in Omaha. He gives police Salazar's identification, date of birth, Social Security number. The man — Faux Joe — is fingerprinted and booked into the Douglas County Jail. Soon after, he posts his $750 bail and is released.

March 13, 2003: With his lawyer beside him, Faux Joe pleads no contest to possession of cocaine. Douglas County District Judge Patricia Lamberty finds him guilty and informs Faux Joe that he faces up to five years in prison.

May 28, 2003: Faux Joe fails to appear for sentencing. Lamberty issues a bench warrant for his arrest.

Dec. 24, 2008: Salazar gets pulled over for speeding near West Point, Neb. The officer discovers a warrant for a Joe Salazar.

Real Joe tells them it's not him and informs them about the stolen wallet. Thurston County sheriff's officials review Real Joe's fingerprints and discover that, indeed, Real Joe is not the wanted man. Still, they say, they have to transfer Salazar to Douglas County because the county has a “hold” on him.

Late Dec. 24, 2008: Salazar arrives in Douglas County and tells corrections officials they have the wrong guy. He is told he will have to wait to plead his case to Judge Lamberty, who is on vacation. (No one tells Salazar that he could have asked to appear before a duty judge who fills in for vacationing judges.)

Jan. 7, 2009: Salazar calls Reisinger for help. Reisinger contacts prosecutors and Lamberty's office. Authorities compare Real Joe's fingerprints with Faux Joe's and release Salazar.

Lamberty's staff writes on an order to jail officials: “The Joe Salazar (jailed) since 12/24/08 has been determined by fingerprints to NOT BE the defendant in this case. Release immediately!”

Lamberty renews the bench warrant, listing the wanted man as Joe Salazar. She orders that the warrant include this language: “Note: Please re-verify identification of Joe Salazar due to mistaken arrests.”

Tuesday evening: Real Joe arrives home from work to find his house has been burglarized. He calls Omaha police, who arrive and take his report.

Salazar said his mind was consumed with the items he lost in the burglary — an Xbox, an iPod, several DVDs — when the officer turned to him and said, “Mr. Salazar, when was the last time you had contact with law enforcement?”

“I thought to myself ‘Oh, s—, here we go again,' ” Salazar said.

Salazar and his girlfriend tell the officer about the stolen identification. But faced with a guy with the same name, date of birth and other details that were on the warrant, the officer tells him he has no choice. Salazar is cuffed and taken to the Douglas County Jail.

“He was nice about it,” Salazar said. “But I was, like, ‘You mean, I got robbed and I'm the one going to jail?' ”

Wednesday: After Salazar's loved ones contact Reisinger, he again calls prosecutors and the judge. Authorities compare the fingerprints and release Real Joe.

With that, Salazar was left to sort out his rotten luck.

By far, he said, the first jail stint was the worst. He spent Christmas and New Year's in jail — his only contact with family by jail phone.

Even worse than losing his freedom, he said, was the prospect of losing his job at a local manufacturing company. Salazar said he feared his bosses might not believe that he was in jail because of an innocent mix-up, so he made excuses for missing work.

“But for him being a really great employee,” Reisinger said, “he would have lost his job.”

Salazar said he hasn't given much serious thought to filing suit over what he's lost: wages, freedom, family time. To recover, Reisinger said, Salazar would have to prove that authorities acted recklessly or in bad faith in arresting him.

Salazar said he doesn't know whom to blame, beyond Faux Joe. He said he understands how Omaha police officers may not have realized that Faux Joe was giving them a fake ID during the 2002 drug arrest. Though Faux Joe isn't exactly an evil twin — the impostor is heavier and looks about 10 years older — the two have some similarities, including the same style of goatee.

Real Joe just wants a solution — a solution that Reisinger said the system has yet to figure out.

Actually, a few procedures already are in place that could have spared Salazar:

Ÿ Authorities take mug shots and fingerprints of everyone they book into jail. In turn, when arresting officers take suspects to the Douglas County Jail, they have access to a computer station that compares the suspect's fingerprints with fingerprints of known criminals. It was unclear why that wasn't done during Salazar's arrests.

Ÿ An investigation into who Faux Joe is — and a warrant naming that person. Of the more than 30,000 arrests Omaha police make each year, Officer Tonya Bolter investigates about 150 “wrong-party arrests.” Bolter, a court liaison who works out of the City Prosecutor's Office, said she works to not only clear the wrong person but to track down the identity thief.

Bolter said she has not been asked to investigate Salazar's case. However, she said, authorities could run Faux Joe's fingerprints into a computer system to see if his prints match those of any known criminals.

Ÿ Though some have suggested it, Salazar isn't interested in a name change. “Why should I have to change my name because of this guy?” Salazar asked.

Ÿ The judge could cancel the warrant.

Kleine, the prosecutor, said the warrant needs to be amended — or dropped. Authorities obviously have no idea who Faux Joe is — not even Faux Joe's original attorney knows the guy's real name. And he probably stopped using Salazar's identification long ago.

“It's frightening,” Kleine said of Salazar's two jail stays. “It's certainly something we don't want happening.”

Of course, no one wants it to stop more than Salazar. He said he thought authorities would fix the problem after his first jailing.

Now, he just hopes there isn't a third.

“I don't know what to think, man,” Salazar said. “I've been through a lot of stuff because of that guy. I just want it to end.”

Contact the writer:

444-1275, todd.cooper@owh.com