Cincinnati man arrested for federal fraud crimes

CINCINNATI – A Cincinnati man was arrested on federal fraud charges alleging he used a stolen identity for decades, compiling an extensive criminal record, getting married and fathering a child all under the assumed identity.

Yaw Mintah Afari, 46, appeared in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati yesterday, at which point his case was unsealed. He is scheduled for a detention hearing at 1:30pm tomorrow.

An affidavit filed in this case details that the victim of Afari’s alleged identity theft has significantly suffered from having his identity stolen. For example, the victim was arrested in 2009 for a warrant in Georgia for a crime that Afari committed while using his identity. The victim later had to take a DNA test to prove that he was not liable for child support payments for a child that Afari fathered under the victim’s name. Further, the victim lost his job as an Uber driver because of the criminal record Afari compiled under his identity.

According to court documents, Afari was born in Ghana in 1977 and entered the United States on a visitor’s visa in 1999. Afari obtained a Virginia driver’s license in 1999. In July 2001, he was charged with assault in Fairfax, Virginia.

After his assault charges, it is alleged that Afari stole the identity of an acquaintance that lived on his road.

It is alleged that Afari used the stolen identity in connection with various arrests, including on fraud, theft and forgery charges in Georgia in 2007 and 2009. Afari was convicted and sentenced to prison terms for the crimes in Georgia and was paroled in 2012.

In 2018 or 2019, Afari moved to Cincinnati. It is alleged he married a woman in 2019 and used the stolen identity for a marriage certificate in Hamilton County. Afari also fathered a child while using the assumed identity.

In February 2022, Afari applied for a passport in Cincinnati using the victim’s name, which led to an investigation into his true identity.

Afari is charged with aggravated identity theft (which is punishable by a two-year mandatory prison sentence), passport fraud (up to 10 years in prison) and making false statements to an agent of the federal government (up to five years in prison).

Kenneth L. Parker, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, announced the charges. The case is being investigated by the U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), U.S. Social Security Office of Inspector General, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), U.S. Marshals, and Ohio BMV Investigations. Special Assistant United States Attorney Timothy A. Landry is representing the United States in this case.

A criminal complaint merely contains allegations, and defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.

# # #