Dominican national ripped off welfare using dead man’s name

WORCESTER — Massachusetts-based federal prosecutors say a man in their custody who they don’t even know the name of used a dead man’s identity as he committed violent crimes and alleged welfare fraud.

The man prosecutors are calling “John Doe,” because they don’t know his true identity, is likely around 57 years old and a national of the Dominican Republic living illegally in the United States. Prosecutors say he has been living in Massachusetts since at least 2001 under the identity of a U.S. citizen from Puerto Rico who died in 2006.

The defendant, living as a Worcester resident using the dead man’s identity, was arrested in April 2026 on a criminal complaint and has remained in federal custody since that time. A grand jury has since indicted him on fraud charges, a development prosecutors announced Thursday.

Since coming here, prosecutors say, the man has committed crimes and even developed a string of assault and drug-related convictions — all under the name of the dead man. The defendant, they say, used this name to fraudulently obtain a Massachusetts ID and Social Security card and has been scamming welfare benefit programs with them.

In September 2012, John Doe was convicted in Worcester Superior Court of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (gun) as well as trafficking cocaine, for which he was sentenced to state prison for 8-10 years and 11-15 years, respectively, according to U.S. District Attorney Leah B Foley.

When the defendant was released from state prison in January 2022 from these convictions, he allegedly headed straight away to apply for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

It took a Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) employee reviewing his application to do what no other authority from the courts to prison could do — run the Social Security number and find the match to the dead man. Despite this effort, DTA approved him for benefits, federal prosecutors say.

From April 2022 through February 2026, “John Doe” had received more than $12,600 in SNAP benefits, prosecutors say. If convicted of the fraud, the defendant could spend up to 20 years in prison — plus another possible five for misrepresenting a Social Security number.