North Pole Man Sentenced To Eight Months In Prison For Passport Fraud Committed In Fairbanks

Fairbanks, Alaska — U.S. Attorney Karen L. Loeffler announced today that a North Pole man was sentenced in federal court in Fairbanks for one count of presenting a false application for a United States Passport.  

Bryan Edward Tucker, 41, of North Pole, Alaska, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Ralph R. Beistline, to eight months in prison, to be followed by one years of supervised release.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea W. Hattan, who prosecuted the case, Tucker presented a fraudulent application for a United States passport at the United States Post Office on Barnette Street in downtown Fairbanks.  In doing so, Tucker used his brother’s name and identification information, and presented an Alaska driver’s license bearing his photograph but issued in his brother’s name, as well as a copy of his brother’s birth certificate.  Tucker certified, under penalty of perjury, that his passport application was true and correct, and that the documents he had presented were not false. 

Further investigation revealed that Tucker had been using his brother’s identity for nearly a year to obtain identification documents that were necessary to obtain an Alaska commercial driver’s license (CDL).  Tucker admitted that he did so because he knew that Alaska law prohibited him from obtaining a CDL in his own name due to his prior Alaska convictions for driving under the influence of alcohol in 2012 and 2014, respectively.  Before getting caught, Tucker obtained the following documents in his brother’s name:  social security card, a medical examiner’s certificate from Alaska Occupational Health, and two standard Alaska driver’s licenses issued in his brother’s name.

During the sentencing hearing, Judge Beistline expressed the seriousness of the crime and the need to deter “at a time when the integrity of a passport is especially important.”

“Lying about your identify in order to obtain official documents has serious implications,” said Kevin Feldis, First Assistant U.S. Attorney.  “Trying to obtain a passport with your photograph in someone else’s name, for whatever reason, is a serious crime.  In this case, the defendant was trying to hide prior crimes that were directly relevant to whether or not he was qualified and had earned the right to obtain a commercial driver’s license.  I commend the investigators who handled this case.”

U.S. Attorney Loeffler commended the U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Security Service and the Alaska State Troopers for their investigation of this case, as well as the United States Marshals Service for their assistance in this matter.