Monday, July 9, 2012

Stolen Identity: George Kalomeris (Gary Wayne Thomas and Thomas Wayne Jones)

 Another case of stolen identity unrelated to the story or the film above.

1998 Delaware, Maryland
A home care nurse arrived, and saw that her employer was missing, and there was blood on the floor. The police were called, and discovered tire tracks leading from the home to an open field. Thomas Wayne Jones was found lying in the field. He had been shot in the back, but was still clinging to life. He told police that it was his friend George Kalomeris who had shot him. When police searched for Kalomeris, he had vanished. Mrs. Kalomeris, called police and informed them of her husband's whereabouts. They arrested him for attempted murder. He admitted that they were friends, but denied any involvement in the ambush attack. While following up on a tip, police found mail with the name Gary Wayne Thomas. The police thought the name sounded very similar to their victim, who had since died during their investigation. It was discovered that Gary Wayne Thomas was a real person and a friend of George Kalomeris. But, that he had been missing for at least three years.  U.S Postal Crime Lab compared the writing samples of the mail for both victims and confirmed that George Kalomeris had authored the signatures on the letters. He eventually confessed in order to escape the death penalty. He told police that he was jealous of Gary Wayne Thomas' wealth and plotted to kill him and assume his identity. In 1996, he lured Gary to a field and shot him. He scattered the remains so that he could never be found. He decided to do the same thing to Thomas Wayne Jones. George Kalomeris was convicted and received 395 years in prison. His wife Noreen Kalomeris was also arrested for bank fraud.

Identity Theft: Paul Gruber and Darryl Kuehl

 Here is another case of stolen identity. This happens much more often than one may think.

Idaho

Shellie Kepley, came in from Reno to check on her father Paul Gruber. She suspected that something was wrong because she had not seen or heard from her father in a month. He was only 54 years old and very wealthy. She called her father, but could not reach him. She had received some greeting cards from her father, but noticed that the signature seemed forged.

Darryl Kuehl


When the police arrived at the victim's home, they found plastic covers on the furniture. They discovered a computer missing, guns missing, and the safe was missing.  There appeared to be no one living there, but all of his accounts were still active. The detectives found out that he had been paying the mortgage for a man named Darryl Kuehl. When police contacted Darryl Kuehl he explained that he was a contractor who had done some work for Paul, and that Paul was an investor in his new business. Instead of paying cash, he paid his mortgage instead. Sherry said that her father would never agree to do such an agreement. Kuehl was asked to review a photo of Paul, and he stated that he didn't recognize him and that the man that he had been dealing with must have been an imposter.  He was asked to describe Paul Gruber, and the sketch artist had a picture of someone who looked completely different.


Police investigator's checked surveillance video at Gruber's post office box, and they could see Darryl Kuehl standing outside the p.o. box. He had been picking up Gruber's mail, and stealing money out of his accounts. A search was done on Kuehl's home where they found many items that belonged to Gruber. They wanted to arrest him for theft and forgery, but had no body. Upon inspecting the victim's home again police found a crawl space. They started digging beneath the crawl space of Gruber's home where they found his body. He was found 17 months later wrapped in an air mattress. He had been shot six times. Kuehl had tried to steal his identity, A DNA analysis at the crime lab confirmed that Kuehl's saliva was on the stamps.  Darryl Robin Kuehl was found guilty of theft forgery and murder. He was sentenced to over 50 years in prison.