Posted on: Saturday, April 9, 2005

Man gets 5 years in ID theft, fraud

By Ken Kobayashi
Advertiser Courts Writer

A 50-year-old man who avoided paying child support by assuming the identity of a dead man and collected Social Security benefits under the dead man's name for eight years was sentenced yesterday to five years in federal prison.

U.S. District Judge David Ezra also ordered Robert Sohnrey to pay more than $70,000 to Social Security and $237,000 in child support payments stemming from 1993 divorce proceedings in California.

Sohnrey pleaded guilty to charges that included identity theft and Social Security fraud.

The judge said Sohnrey, an "extremely bright" man, devised an elaborate and sophisticated scheme in carrying on the charade for so long.

Sohnrey will receive credit for about a year and a half he spent in custody, leaving him with 3 1/2 years left on his sentence.

Sobbing at times, Sohnrey apologized and portrayed himself as a desperate man who chose to start a new life. He said although he received the Social Security payments, he had paid debts for the dead man, Edward B. Cook.

Defense attorney William Domingo said his client tried to kill himself three times after his wife in California divorced him; he lost his job; and he was later falsely notified that his two children were dead. He said his client felt, "If I can't take my life, I will change my life."

Sohnrey saw Cook's obituary in a newspaper and "decided to become Ed Cook," Domingo said.

Sohnrey came to Hawai'i in the mid-1990s and had been working as a gemologist before his arrest in 2003, according to the defense lawyer.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Hino said Sohnrey received 96 payments from the Social Security Administration over eight years and avoided paying child support for nine years. "It was like his hobby was fooling people," Hino said.

Hino said much of what Sohnrey told Ezra yesterday was not credible.

Ezra said he found Sohnrey "not truthful" when he talked about his motivations. The judge said he believes Sohnrey paid the debts so that Cook's creditors wouldn't find him and discover the false identify.

Reach Ken Kobayashi at 525-8030 or kkobayashi@honoluluadvertiser.com.