Man who ‘wanted to start over’ steals identity of comatose patient, Florida cops say

A man accused of stealing the identity of a Texas patient in a long-term coma has been sentenced in connection with 21 felony charges in Florida, officials said.

A judge ordered 39-year-old Donald Wood to serve 25 years in prison in connection with an identity theft scheme , the State Attorney’s Office for Florida’s 7th Judicial Circuit said Sept. 30.

McClatchy News reached out to his attorney for comment Oct. 1 and did not immediately receive a response.

In October 2021, Wood was taken into custody for unrelated reasons and identified himself with another name, according to an arrest affidavit filed in Volusia County. But investigators said they learned the name Wood used belonged to a San Antonio man who had been in a persistent vegetative state for over a year and a half.

The false name given to police revealed a fraud scheme that began because Wood said he “wanted to start over,” investigators said.

Law enforcement spoke with the victim’s wife, and she said she filed a police report after logging into her bank account and seeing a loan for a Dodge Ram truck she hadn’t bought, officials said.

Her bank later informed her that someone had tried to refinance her home, and records showed a $75,000 cash-out equity loan attached to the couple’s property, according to investigators.

Officials said they found that four different vehicles — including an Audi and a Dodge Challenger — purchased in the span of a month were registered to the victim, which was impossible because of his comatose state.

Wood pleaded guilty to organized scheme to defraud over $50,000, 17 counts of fraudulent use of personal identification information, two counts of tampering in felony second-degree proceedings and mortgage fraud, prosecutors said.

He also had an arrest warrant in Michigan on a charge of identity theft, according to the affidavit.

The state attorney’s office said it identified additional victims in other states.

Volusia County is on Florida’s Atlantic coast, about a 50-mile drive northeast from Orlando.

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