Man used officer's identity for decade

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HOLIDAY, Fla., Oct. 19 (UPI) -- Authorities in Florida said a Mexican man living in the state has been using the identity of a Texas police officer for more than 10 years.

Pasco County sheriff's deputies said Sergio Morales Esquivel, 51, who does not have U.S. citizenship, broke into the car of Edinburg, Texas, police officer Jorge Luis Moreno in the late 1990s and stole a wallet, The St. Petersburg Times reported Wednesday.

The wallet was later recovered without Moreno's ID or Social Security card.

Deputies said Moreno recently learned a loan had been taken out in his name in New Port Richey, Fla. Investigators said Esquivel took out the loan to buy his wife a 2008 Toyota RAV4 from Sun Toyota in New Port Richey.

"As far as we can tell, this is the first thing he's done in Florida with that information," Pasco sheriff's spokesman Kevin Doll said.

The sheriff's department said Esquivel turned himself in Monday and is being held without bail on a charge of criminal use of personal identification information.