Jamaican national pleads guilty to identity theft

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A Jamaican national pleaded guilty today to identity theft, announced Acting United States Attorney Carol Casto. Roland Jason Duckett, 31, admitted that he used another person’s identity in a fraudulent attempt to obtain a United States passport.

Duckett admitted that he entered the United States from Jamaica in 2007 and then remained in the United States after his visa expired. In August 2015, he paid another individual for the use of identification documents, including that person’s birth certificate and Social Security card. Duckett used these documents to obtain a West Virginia driver’s license in the other individual’s name. Duckett admitted that in November 2015 he mailed a passport application from Charleston in an attempt to obtain a United States passport. His passport application was flagged for fraud by the United States Department of State and Duckett never received a U.S. passport. Agents with the Diplomatic Security Service of the United States Department of State uncovered the fraud and determined Duckett’s true identity.

Duckett faces up to five years in federal prison when he is sentenced on July 8, 2016.

The investigation of this case was conducted by the United States Department of State, Diplomatic Security Service, with the assistance of the West Virginia State Police. Assistant United States Attorney Blaire L. Malkin is in charge of the prosecution. The plea hearing was held before United States District Judge John T. Copenhaver, Jr.

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