Yaw Mintah Afari stole his former neighbor’s identity, causing the man to be arrested, lose an Uber job, and wrongly face child support payments, authorities said. (Mug shot: Butler County Jail)
An innocent man told investigators he got arrested, lost his Uber job, and was almost on the hook for child support payments because of identity theft, which authorities say was done by his former neighbor.
Yaw Mintah Afari, 46, was arrested Wednesday and is currently locked up at Ohio’s Butler County Jail in a federal case for false statements, passport fraud, and aggravated identity theft.
“At some point thereafter [a July 2001 assault charge in Fairfax, Virginia], AFARI stole the identity of his acquaintance, whose initials are A.D. Virginia driver’s license records show that the two men lived on the same street,” authorities wrote in their affidavit in support of the criminal complaint. “In addition, when A.D. was interviewed recently, he told investigators that he had met AFARI through a mutual acquaintance.”
But while A.D. stayed in Virginia since then, Afari moved out of state and got into a fair bit of trouble under A.D.’s name, according to documents.
During a May 25, 2007, arrest in Dekalb County, Georgia, for fraud, he allegedly identified himself using the former neighbor’s name and birth date.
It appeared that the illegal use of the neighbor’s identity first surfaced around March 3, 2009, when cops noted that he used A.D.’s identity in various arrests, documents stated.
Afari pleaded guilty in Gwinnett County, Georgia, and was sentenced on June 30, 2009, for theft, federal investigators said.
From documents:
According to a transcript of the hearing, AFARI was placed under oath and admitted that he used the names A.D. and YAW AFARI, though he falsely stated that “Andrew” was his real name. The court imposed a five-year sentence, with six months in custody and the balance to be served on probation.
On December 15, 2009, AFARI was sentenced in Dekalb County, Georgia cases 09CR4113 and 09CR5103. He was sentenced to six years in prison for fraud and forgery in case 09CR4113. He was sentenced to 15 years on probation for theft, forgery, and fraud in case 09CR5103. Although he was charged under A.D.’s name in both cases, the judgments in each case indicate that his correct name is “YAWMINTA AFARI.”
The identity theft continued even when he went to prison, according to investigators. Documents claimed he used the neighbor’s name on Sept. 29, 2010, and Dec. 14, 2011, to apply for replacement Social Security cards. Afari was paroled on Dec. 1, 2012.
He allegedly used the name after moving to the Cincinnati, Ohio, area in 2018 or 2019, investigators claim. For example, they said he used A.D.’s name when getting in driving infractions and also getting married. Again, he applied for a replacement Social Security card on Jan. 22, 2021, and then he submitted a passport application on Feb. 19, 2022, they said.
That passport application was flagged because the real A.D. recently obtained a passport, investigators claim.
Agents spoke to the real man in Virginia on July 30, 2022; he gave documents including a certified birth certificate, his various passports, a 2013 police report in which he said he was the victim of identity theft, and let them take his fingerprints.
From documents:
A.D. explained that he has been seriously impacted by having his identity stolen. For example, he stated that he was arrested in 2009 for a warrant from Stone Mountain, Georgia for a crime that AFARI committed under A.D.’s identity. He had to travel to Georgia to clear that up. He later had to travel to Georgia a second time and take a DNA test to prove that he was not liable for child support payments for a child that AFARI fathered under A.D.’s name. A.D. also explained that he lost his job as an Uber driver because of the criminal record that AFARI compiled under A.D.’s identity.
A.D. said he knew Afari when they were younger and lived in the same Virginia town, but while Afari moved, A.D. had stayed in the state since arriving in the U.S., according to authorities.
