Homeless Man Steals Identities, Cons Marriott

A homeless man collected identities from a temp job and dropped thousands in stolen money on hotels.

Move over Frank Abagnale, there’s a new cop-eluding con artist in town. Rafal Bogun, a 33-year-old homeless man in Queens, obtained a job at a law firm back in 2013 through a temp agency. While there, he used personal client information to steal about 20 identities. He took that information and used it to get credit cards—then used those cards to shop online and stay at NYC-area hotels. At each hotel, he’d use business center computers to get more credit cards and more merchandise.

All the while, Bogun managed to quietly evade police. They knew he had gone to Walmart to pick up items bought with one of the credit cards—they had him on video—and they found evidence a few months later that he stayed in a Marriot hotel using a fake ID.

“Similar to the lead character played by actor Leonardo DiCaprio in the movie ‘Catch Me If You Can,’ the defendant allegedly played out a complicated game of cat and mouse with law enforcement for over a year,” Queens District Attorney Richard Brown told the NY Daily News.

Bogun was finally caught last week in Penn Station by Amtrak police—he had been advertising discounted Amtrak tickets online and accidentally sold one to an undercover cop. Now, Bogun is facing up to seven years in prison. He’s been charged with identity theft, criminal possession of a forged instrument and fraud. His bail is set at $100,000.

[Image via Marriott]