According to reports, accused drug kingpin Howard Farley, 72, was arrested on Wednesday after 35-years on the run. Farley allegedly managed to stay below the radar for the last three decades by using a dead infant's identification information. He was apprehended just before boarding a private plane at a hangar near his home in Florida.
Authorities say Farley managed the Southern Line, a railroad line used to move narcotics throughout the US. He was the only person of the 73 indicted back in 1985 to go uncaptured before Wednesday. Farley stole the identity of a deceased infant identified only as "T.B." who was born in 1954 and died three months after birth. Federal officials were tipped off about the stolen identity after a passport renewal application for T.B. However, investigators found the death record of the infant with the same identification information.
What's more, the Social Security number for the infant wasn't registered until 1983, something deemed highly unusual for someone born in 1954.
While Farley wasn't able to get past the feds this time, authorities say he was able to obtain a passport under the stolen identity on three separate occasions: March 1987, October 1998 and October 2008.
Authorities are seeking to charge Farley with passport fraud, a crime that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison.
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