A Brazilian national assumed the identity of a deceased American to land a job with United Airlines and served 23 years as a flight attendant before he was caught.
Brazilian National Who Served 23 Years As A Flight Attendant For United Airlines Arrested For Assuming Identity Of Dead American
Four-year-old William Ericson Ladd died in a car accident in 1979, one month prior to his fifth birthday. Authorities allege that Brazilian national Ricardo Cesar Guedes, born in 1972, assumed Ladd’s identity and successfully applied for a U.S. passport in 1998.
That year, he also became a United Airlines flight attendant and served in that role for 23 years. Over that period, he renewed his passport six times and was even able to sponsor residency for his spouse. He bought a house in Houston, a BMW, and flew all over the world for United.
When he last tried to renew his passport in December 2020, it was flagged for fraud by the State Department and an investigation was launched. Passport officials were curious why he had not applied for a social security card until 1996. Furthermore, Guedes’ birthdate and name on the application matched the birth date on the death certificate of William Ladd.
First, investigators interviewed the mother of the real Ladd to confirm he was deceased. Next, Guedes’ fingerprints submitted for his (initial) U.S. passport under the name of William Ladd were found to match those he had submitted in Brazil for his identity documents there.
Consequently, authorities tailed Guedes at Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. First, they watched him pass through a Known Crewmember Checkpoint (flight attendants and pilots who undergo a background check can enter the secure side of airport without going through a security checkpoint). Upon boarding his flight, federal law enforcement confronted him.
He first identified himself as Ladd, but became silent when authorities showed him a picture of Ladd’s grave in Alabama. Guedes then confessed to being an imposter, before remaking:
“I had a dream, and the dream is over. Now I have to face reality.”
Guedes is now under arrest now faces three charges:
- Providing a false statement in a passport application
- Falsely impersonating a US citizen
- Entering an airport secure area under false pretenses
United Airlines noted:
“United has a thorough verification process for new employees that complies with federal legal requirements.”
Indeed, there is no evidence to indicate United was responsible for Guedes’ identity theft.
CONCLUSION
A former United Airlines flight attendant from Brazil flew for 23 years under a false name with a false identify of a dead American. He is now under arrest and his dream is indeed over.
Finally, I will add that while Guedes’ actions cannot be condoned, it is a shame authorities spent so long tracking him down when so many identify thieves use harvested personal information for far more pernicious purposes and get away with it. This was not a “victimless crime” in that Ladd’s mother was painfully reminded of her son’s untimely death by investigators, but I don’t think Guedes set out to hurt anyone…like so many other illegal aliens, he simply wanted a better life and was willing to accept the risk for doing so. He now rightfully faces the consequences for his actions.
(images taken from Guedes’ Twitter account // H/T: Paddle Your Own Kanoo)
How did it get approved in the first place? And not get flagged for 22 years?
A cynical person would say we haven’t made much progress after 9-11 even with all the rights we gave away.
We don’t punish violent criminals in the USA any longer for “equity.” Given he’s been a productive member of society for 23 years, we should just give him his $450,000 Biden administration illegal immigrant bonus and let him go.
There isn’t a statute of limitations from the time of the initial application?
He had some good years, and Brazil is a much different (more advanced) place now so wish him the best, hope they go lenient here.
I agree with Matthew that more productive members of society belong behind bars and should face the consequences of their actions. Why was this man able to work and make a better life for himself?
I never said behind bars…
I’m chuckling that this article is good bait for your new comments policy.
“Must be well behaved. Must be well behaved. Dammit!”
Meanwhile tens of thousands of unvetted illegals stream across our southern border and are welcomed with open arms.
Kind Sir, illegal immigrants in the United States are doing the hard and often dangerous physical labor in meat packing plants, farm fields that white citizens often find too hard and too low pay. So next time you sit down to a meal, say a prayer to the hard working undocumented worker who provided you and your family with heathy and nourishing food. Illegal immigrants have been and always will be the backbone of the agriculture infrastructure in this country. I thank them for all that they do.
“illegal immigrants in the United States are doing the hard and often dangerous physical labor in meat packing plants, farm fields that white citizens often find too hard and too low pay.”
I would propose that instead of exploiting immigrant labor as indentured servants and being thankful for the cheap food, labor laws should be enforced and proper wages paid outright for ANY worker to enjoy a living wage even if it means paying a little more upfront. This also ties into environmentalism and sustainable living in that if wages and living standards rise while people have fewer children (since less labor is needed), then fewer resources are consumed and people can afford to live more sustainably. Will a poor person put environmental sustainability ahead of their and their family’s personal survival?
As an aside, I want to observe that stating that white citizens don’t want “hard” or “low paid” jobs would be considered racist if another ethnicity was referenced.
Based on your proposal, would you pay $35 for a chicken dish at a restaurant? Because that is exactly what will happen.
The “$20 big mac” has already been debunked by observations that the price of a big mac in Denmark is little more than that in the USA. Naturally, when I say “a little more” we’d pay for hotel rooms, “chicken dishes”, and lawn maintenance, we can’t say for sure but this certainly would be offset by the savings in having to provide education for their children and other social benefits which effectively subsidizes such businesses.
There’s also “climate change” in that migration increases consumption and costs in the destination countries and encourages higher population growth in the others. Why should people bother living sustainably when they see an immigrant family with twice as many kids?
I believe that you believe that….
Sounds like he was the sort of migrant countries want and need, hard working and decent. All that should be taken into account.
Agreed.
No, it shouldn’t. He broke the law. Throw is ass in jail, and when he done there, throw him the hell out of the damn country.
Then let’s throw out the millions of illegal immigrants that have crossed the border rather than feeding them, housing them, and handing them free money! At least this guy was a productive member of society and didn’t depend on society for handouts.
Throw them out too.
@Brian L.
If you really believe anyone who breaks the law should be in jail, even if the crime does not affect anyone’s life in a bad way, then you surely believe the worst criminal in America history, Donald J. Trump should go to jail for life !!!
Indeed. Let him keep his job. He needs to pay 70% of salary going forward as penalty and give away all his wealth.
Liberals are very good at asking for only financial penalties, then whittling even those down.
What is the solution here? He may be from Brazil, but he’s hardly Brazilian anymore. It seems like deporting him to what is in essence a foreign land would in many ways be criminal. Society as a whole is better off with his presence here, and by deporting or jailing him, we lose a productive member of society and are all worse off, so how is that exactly justice?
I also can’t help but laugh at the crime of “impersonating a US citizen.” I guess that means Akeem and Semmi should be locked up too.
How can UA not be responsible for delegating the background check in a party that didn’t verify there were school records with that name and social security number? A high school diploma is a job requirement. Not to mention checking funeral data bases.
Oh FFS, United would check his passport against the State Dep database, that cleared. Would check the DL against the DMV database, that cleared. Would check the SS number against the SSA database, that cleared. This guy was a known crew member, which means he was fingerprinted had an FBI and Texas background check to have that privilege, that cleared. And in your uninformed opinion, United is responsible???
A huge problem is the immigration system is slow, much worse than the post office. Stuff takes years to get done. Yes, the illegals are a problem but so is the system. Overly complicated, political, costly.
Prosecute him to the full extent of the law. Throw him in prison. Who did he think he was, a white Republican male? Like trump who lies on his bank loan documents and tax forms, or like mark burr who trades on insider information, or like all those RNC operatives banging maria butina and giving away access to foreign secrets, or Matt gaetz who loves “mentoring” high school girls.
Nope he is not a white Republican male. He doesn’t get a free pass.
Why not a free pass. Brandon has given millions of illegal immigrants a free pass, free money, free food, free housing this past year!
Hope he gets the book thrown at him and the authorities garnish his assets as well (the house and BMW). The wife should be deported as he obviously wasn’t a legal sponsor for her. Americans should be sick of deception, lying, illegal entry while these criminals get to live a life of luxury that most citizens can’t come close to. He needs to sit in jail for a long time with the lowest of low-life and then ponder his flight attendant existence, money, travels, if only in his mind. But alas, we know all the liberal judges, lawyers and probably even United Airlines will jump on the “just a poor immigrant” wanting the American dream and his troubles will amount to nothing. At best, though, United will fire him.
If you’re throwing the book at this guy, then let’s throw the book at the millions of illegal immigrants that Brandon welcomed with open arms this past year, fed them, housed them, handed out free money, shipped them into red counties and wants to give them voting rights.
I can’t imagine how he was able to live for 23 years knowing he could be caught any minute. That must have been a disgraceful life. I tell my kids: If you do something wrong, it is only a matter of time until someone will catch you.
Soon we could whatch this history on movie teatres and streaming services
“.. he also became a United Airlines flight attendant and served in that role for 23 years. Over that period, he renewed his passport six times…”
What? This makes no sense. He renewed his passport SIX times in the 23 years he was a flight attendant at United? In that time period, he would only need three passports as US passports are good for 10 years for adults.
Have you seen a flight attendants passport? They renew them more often than regular people, they run out of pages quicker. Obviously he was a language speaker, so he took many trips to Brazil, lots of stamps.
Do he and his wife get to keep their stimulus checks? Does he still get to vote in US elections?
Will there be an investigation into what else he might have obtained fraudulently (home loans, car loans, credit cards, student loans, etc.)?
For those of you who think identity theft is a victimless crime, my wife and I had our identities stolen. It has been a multiyear nightmare.
Stealing the identities of US citizens is a business.
I would like to steal the identity of a deceased member of the royal family of Monaco so I can live a better life. Is that okay?
Is there a gofundme for this guy? I would contribute!
Me too, if anyone finds a link please post it.
Gofundme https://www.gofundme.com/f/ajudem-ao-veterano-ricardo-cesar-guedes?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=p_cf+share-flow-1
Editor’s note: we are allowing this link in the interest of goodwill. See our new comment policy here.
I wonder if he voted?
It is spelled CONCLUSION
Obrigado.