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L.A. homeless man killed by cops had stolen identity, wanted by marshals

The man shot and killed Sunday was living under an assumed name, Charley Robinet.

By Ed Adamczyk

LOS ANGELES, March 4 (UPI) -- French authorities said a homeless man who was killed in an altercation with Los Angeles police had stolen the identity of a French citizen and was living under an assumed name.

The man shot and killed Sunday was initially identified as Charley Saturmin Robinet, and police linked him to a man convicted in 2000 of a local bank robbery and released from prison in 2014.

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On Tuesday, the French Consulate in Los Angeles reported that Robinet was "alive and well in France." The victim of the confrontation with police had stolen Robinet's identity, acquired a French passport under the assumed name and arrived in the United States in the late 1990s.

Axel Cruau, the French consul general, said authorities discovered the complication as they drew up paperwork, believing he was a French citizen, to deport him after the robbery conviction.

Consul press spokeswoman Astrid le Moine said the Los Angeles Police Department was alerted when French authorities learned the man identified as Robinet was an impostor.

Cruau said, "He fooled a lot of people, including us, years ago."

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