COVID SHOT REVEALS IDENTITY OF EAST TENNESSEE MILITARY DESERTER USING STOLEN IDENTITY FOR DECADES
NEWPORT, Tenn. — A 65-year-old East Tennessee man will spend two years in prison after he was caught living under a stolen identity for decades after deserting the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee said.
The story begins in 1976. Court documents showed Jerry Blankenship enlisted in the U.S. Navy that year, and in the following year he deserted after completing basic training to avoid future military service.
Prosecutors said Blankenship then stole the name and identity of another person and established a new life in Newport, Tennessee.
Over the course of the next few decades, court documents showed Blankenship had “been dishonest about his name with almost everyone, including his girlfriend of thirty years” and the mother of his three children.
The court said Blankenship obtained three fraudulent driver’s licenses under the victim’s name since 2005, saying he also used the victim’s name in a business that he and his girlfriend ran in Newport.
It wasn’t until Blankenship received a COVID-19 vaccine that his true identity would be revealed. The court said he received his vaccine at a Newport pharmacy, FULL STORY HERE
