Oklahoma Man Sentenced To Over 7 Years In Federal Prison For Aggravated Identity Theft, Failure To Appear, And Theft Of Government Funds

Fort Smith, Arkansas –Duane (DAK) Kees, United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, announced that Allen Frank Martin, age 57 of Arkoma, Oklahoma, was sentenced today to 87 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $277,767.40 in restitution on one count of Aggravated Identity Theft, one count of Theft of Government Funds, and one count of Failure to Appear. The Honorable P.K. Holmes, III presided over the sentencing hearing in the United States District Court in Fort Smith. 

According to court records, in September 2016, a source reported to a Social Security Administration claims representative that Martin was using the identity of another person to receive disability benefits. A subsequent investigation revealed that Martin stole someone’s wallet containing personal identifying information in 1990, and thereafter, he assumed the victim’s identity until his arrest on January 11, 2017. Martin fraudulently received $277,767.40 in Social Security disability funds using the false identity since 2003. During the same time period, Martin was working and failed to report any wages earned to the Social Security Administration. From 1990 until his arrest in 2017, Martin also has used the false identity to obtain multiple Arkansas driver’s licenses, at least one California driver’s license, a social security card, a birth registration card and open a bank account.  

Martin was arrested and indicted in January of 2017.  Martin was originally set for a sentencing hearing in August 2017, but he failed to appear to a bond revocation hearing scheduled beforehand and removed his GPS ankle monitor and fled the district.  His whereabouts were unknown until he was arrested by the United States Marshal’s Service on November 13, 2017 while working in a hotel in Oklahoma.

The investigation was conducted by the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General. Assistant United States Attorney Sydney Butler prosecuted the case for the United States.