CNN
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Federal official Jeff Andre was vacationing at Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom close to Orlando final month when he spotted a man who appeared acquainted.
The man resembled Quashon Burton, 31, who authorities say went on the run in New York City final November after allegedly utilizing fraudulent paperwork to acquire coronavirus reduction assist.
A felony criticism alleged Burton stole the identities of no less than 4 individuals to get almost $150,000 in authorities loans aimed toward struggling companies throughout the pandemic.
Andre was conversant in the suspect. As an inspector with the United States Postal Inspection Service, he was concerned in the case and had signed Burton’s arrest warrant.
And, in an unbelievable stroke of luck, the fugitive he’d been searching for in New York appeared to even be vacationing on the identical day on the similar Florida theme park.
Andre sprang into motion.
Andre alerted Disney World safety, who in flip notified the native Orange County Sheriff’s Office. And so started a course of that ended with Burton behind bars – all due to the 2 males’s overlapping holidays at “the happiest place on Earth.”
A 2021 felony criticism – signed by Andre – laid out the small print in the case in opposition to Burton.
Burton was indicted on federal fees final December, together with theft of presidency funds, conspiracy to steal authorities funds and aggravated identification theft.
In its criticism, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York accused him of stealing victims’ identities to obtain the fraudulent loans and alleged he tried to transform among the funds into postal cash orders.
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“The defendant used fraudulent email accounts, fake identification documents, bank accounts and bank cards in the names of other individuals … in a manner that created a complex web of identities that made his crimes difficult to investigate,” federal court docket paperwork stated.
In an e-mail to CNN, Burton’s attorneys, Lauren Di Chiara and Harvey Fishbein, declined to remark or give information about his plea.
An arrest warrant for Burton was issued in November final yr, and regulation enforcement officers went to his final identified deal with in Brooklyn. He was nowhere to be discovered. They returned to the house twice and spoke to Burton’s mom, who informed them her son wouldn’t be surrendering, federal court docket paperwork stated.
For months Burton allegedly used pretend identities, together with throughout his go to to Disney World, making it troublesome to trace him down, authorities stated.
But on October 20 at round 3:05 p.m., Andre acknowledged him at Animal Kingdom and notified Disney safety that there was a fugitive in the park. Disney authorities then alerted the county sheriff’s workplace, telling them that Burton had left the park and was ready at a close by bus cease with two relations.
A deputy approached him on the bus cease and requested for identification, and Burton questioned why he wanted to supply it, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office stated in an incident report.
When the deputy tried to handcuff Burton, he stiffened his arms and refused to cooperate, and the deputy took him to the bottom and secured him, the incident report stated. Burton was charged with resisting an officer with out violence.
Even after fingerprints confirmed his identification, he insisted he was not Burton, federal paperwork stated.
Burton has since been transferred to federal custody. Federal prosecutors have argued in opposition to his launch on bail, saying he “poses an extreme risk of flight.”