COEUR D'ALENE - Kevin John Weinreis, 50, of Tensed, Idaho, pleaded guilty yesterday to false statement in a passport application, and aggravated identity theft, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. Weinreis was indicted by a federal grand jury in Coeur d’Alene on Feb. 17, 2016.
According to the plea agreement, in August 2002, Weinreis obtained a United States passport using his real photo, but another individual’s name and identifying information. In November 2014, Weinreis renewed this passport, again using the identifying information of another.
In January 2016, a Deputy United States Marshal and a Benewah County Sheriff’s Deputy opened an investigation into the false passport. During an interview occurring on January 8, 2016, Weinreis gave false statements about his identity and was arrested. Officers located and seized a state identification card, social security card, and a U.S. passport, belonging to another individual, on Weinreis. Later, while incarcerated, Weinreis admitted his true identity.
The charge of false statement in a passport application is punishable by up to ten years in prison and a fine up to $250,000. The charge of aggravated identity theft carries a mandatory two-year consecutive sentence to the false statement in a passport application charge, and a fine up to $250,000. Weinreis also faces up to a three-year term of supervised release following his prison sentence.
Sentencing is set for Oct. 11, 2016, at 2:30 p.m. in Coeur d’Alene, before Chief United States Judge B. Lynn Winmill.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of State - Diplomatic Security Service, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Benewah County Sheriff’s Office.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
