Criminal Who Faked Death Might Have Fled Sentence If Not For Death Cert Typo
Image via Shutterstock
A US criminal defendant tried to fake his own death in an attempt to avoid a jail sentence, but unfortunately, his sloppy death certificate showed a glaring error. He is now under investigation for fraud, prosecutors announced.
Robert Berger could face up to four years in prison if he is convicted of the scheme, in addition to his pending sentences for stolen charges and attempted grand larceny.
“It will never cease to amaze me the lengths some people will go to, to avoid being held accountable on criminal charges,” Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas told HuffPost.
Berger pleaded “not guilty to a single count of offering a false instrument for filing,” according to a video arraignment. He, however, was ordered back to jail due to his other cases.
A public defender took over Berger’s case after his previous lawyer, who submitted the questionable death certificate, claimed he had nothing to do with the “alleged shenanigans.”
Berger was scheduled to be sentenced to a year in jail in October 2019, but left the state and tried to convince the judge and lawyer that he had killed himself. The plot even involved his fiancé, as she had to pass the fake document to law enforcement.
The certificate was modeled after official documents issued by the New Jersey Department of Health, but the spelling typos gave it away. The word registry was spelled as “regsitry.” Inconsistencies in the font size and type also heightened suspicions. The New Jersey Department of Health later confirmed that the document was a fake.
Berger, however, fled the state but was caught on 14 November 2019 in Delaware County, Pennsylvania for charges that include giving a false identity to law enforcement.
You can view the bogus document here.
NCDA: NCDA Defendant Allegedly Faked Death to Avoid Sentence on Cases https://t.co/syIGuo7nkd pic.twitter.com/SGqJt0vtcn
— Nassau County DA (@NassauDA) July 21, 2020
[via HuffPost, opening image via Shutterstock]
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