Former flight attendant accused of stealing dead child’s identity to obtain US passport

Ricardo Cesar Guedes, 49, allegedly used the identity of William Ericson Ladd, who was born in 1974 and died of a car crash in 1979

A former United Airlines flight attendant has been accused of stealing a dead child’s identity for a US passport (Getty Images)

A Brazilian man who worked for more than two decades as a United Airlines flight attendant has been accused of identity theft of a deceased four-year-old American boy in order to continue to work illegally for the carrier.

Investigators said in a complaint filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas in Houston in September 2021, that Ricardo Cesar Guedes, 49, born in Sao Paulo in 1972, assumed the identity of William Ericson Ladd who was born in 1974 and died in a car crash in 1979.

According to investigators Mr Guedes first used Ladd’s identity in 1998 while applying for a US passport.

Subsequently he also used the deceased boy’s identity as he got married and applied for a mortgage where he listed his occupation as a flight attendant for United Airlines.

Over the years he renewed his passport six times, but it was only in December 2020 that the state department stopped his application citing “various fraud indicators,” reported The Insider.

Mr Guedes identity was traced after investigators compared the fingerprints he submitted for his Brazilian national identity document in the 1990s with the ones he had submitted for his background check for employment at United Airlines, the complaint said.

In addition, investigators also approached Ladd’s mother who confirmed her son’s dates of birth and death.

However, she said she did not recognise the social security number Guedes used, according to the complaint.

The social security number was issued 17 years after the boy died, reported NBC News.

Investigators also found that he evaded checks at airports by using the known crew members queue.

In September 2021, he was arrested at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport while boarding a flight and has been charged with providing a false statement in a passport application, falsely impersonating a US citizen, and entering an airport secure area under false pretences, the complaint said.

Mr Guedes’ attorney declined to comment to The Insider. United Airlines said that he is “no longer an employee” at the carrier.

“United has a thorough verification process for new employees that complies with federal legal requirements,” the carrier said.