Flight attendant charged with using dead boy’s identity for 20 years

A former United Airlines flight attendant has been accused of stealing the identity of a boy who died in a 1979 car crash and posing as him for 20 years.

A Brazilian man working as a flight attendant for United Airlines has been accused of posing as a dead US boy for two decades.

Ricardo Cesar Guedes, 49, is accused of stealing the identity of William Ericson Ladd – an Atlanta boy who died in a Washington state car crash in 1979 – to apply for a US passport in 1998. He allegedly also renewed the document six times over the years, according to a federal complaint.

Mr Guedes, a native of Sao Paulo, also allegedly used the dead boy’s name while getting married and taking out a mortgage in Houston, according to the complaint, which lists his occupation as a flight attendant for United Airlines, the New York Post reports.

There is no record of him applying or receiving US citizenship through naturalisation, according to the complaint.

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Ricardo Cesar Guedes is accused of stealing a dead boy’s identity to apply for a US passport in 1998. Picture: Eric Ladd/Twitter

Investigators allegedly uncovered Mr Guedes’ real identity by comparing fingerprints he submitted for his Brazilian national identity document in the 1990s.

He was arrested at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport in September when he entered a secure crew member area while allegedly using the dead boy’s identity after “various fraud indicators” saw his passport flagged, the complaint states.

William Ladd’s mother, Debra Lynn Hays, confirmed her son died to State Department investigators last July, according to the complaint charging Mr Guedes with aggravated identity theft, making false statements on a passport application and other counts.

Ms Hays did not recognise the social security number issued to Mr Guedes in North Carolina in the name of William Ericson Ladd some 17 years after her son died, the complaint states.

Mr Guedes faces charges of aggrivated identity theft plus other counts. Picture: Frederic J. Brown/AFP

Mr Guedes allegedly worked on 40 trips for United Airlines in 2020 while using Ladd’s name. He remains detained pending trial, the Houston Chronicle reported.

A United Airlines spokesperson confirmed Mr Guedes’ prior employment, but said he was no longer working for the company, NBC News reported on Tuesday.

“United has a thorough verification process for new employees that complies with federal legal requirements,” the spokesperson said.

A lawyer for Mr Guedes declined to comment on the allegations on Tuesday, NBC News reported.

Mr Guedes was arrested in Houston in September 2021 after his passport was flagged. Picture: Eric Ladd/Twitter

The Diplomatic Security Service, the law enforcement arm of the State Department, investigates roughly 5000 passport fraud cases per year, according to the Chronicle.

Mr Guedes had no prior criminal record, the newspaper reported. When confronted by federal investigators in September, he allegedly identified himself as William Ericson Ladd before agents showed him a death certificate for the boy and a photo of his gravesite in Alabama.

Guedes then allegedly signed a fingerprint sheet using his real name, the newspaper reported.

“I had a dream, and the dream is over,” Mr Guedes reportedly told the arresting agents. “Now I have to face reality.”

This article originally appeared in the New York Post and was reproduced with permission