Woman Gives Cop Fake Name, Gets Arrested on Warrants
A Boston woman who tried to outsmart police by giving them a fake name ended up being arrested on a very real warrant out for a person with the name she had provided.
Tina Lunn was approached by a Boston transit police officer after being observed smoking a cigarette despite several posted "no smoking" signs, reports WXFT-TV. Lunn, who was wanted for warrants in two different Massachusetts counties, allegedly provided a fake name and fake date of birth to the officer.
Unfortunately for her, even her fictitious alter-ego seems to have criminal proclivities.
Ruse Maintained Throughout Booking Process
Despite being arrested under her assumed name, Lunn maintained the charade throughout the booking process, perhaps hoping that her assumed identity was facing fewer criminal charges than her real identity. Among the charges faced by the actual Lunn: assault and battery, kidnapping, and larceny.
Police eventually wised up to Lunn's real identity. In addition to the charges she was already facing, she is now also facing charges of furnishing a false name to law enforcement and smoking in a transportation terminal.
False Name, Real Problems
Lunn is just the latest criminal whose fake name scheme ended up being too clever by half. In 2012, a 15-year-old Texas girl was returned home after being deported by U.S. Immigration authorities to Colombia when the fake name she provided law enforcement ended up being the name of a person in the country illegally.
Other criminals have a harder time pulling off the deception, such as the Idaho man whose master plan to disguise his identity was foiled when a police officer found the man's real name tattooed on his own forearm.
One of the strangest cases of fake identity in recent years, however, has to be the 34-year-old Texas woman who was arrested after posing as a 15-year-old sophomore at a local high school. The woman was described as "an attentive student, respectful" by her school principal, who said no one at the school suspected the woman wasn't a teen. Her true identity was discovered only after the woman who had taken her in grew suspicious and contacted police.
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Related Resources:
- Tina Lunn Arrested After Giving Cops Fake Name Of Wanted Person: Cops (Huffington Post)
- Transit Fare Evasion: Legally, What Can Happen? (FindLaw's Law and Daily Life)
- Using a Fake ID? 5 Potential Legal Consequences (FindLaw's Blotter)
- Can You Refuse to Identify Yourself to Police Officers? (FindLaw's Blotter)
