SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — A man pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to fraud charges, admitting he created a false identity in the ’70s to evade a warrant for his arrest and illegally collect social security.
Leslie Kay Peterson, 72, a U.S. citizen who was living in Mexico, reportedly admitted that he used a forged birth certificate and applied for a new Social Security number under the name “Ronald Allen Steele.” He used the guise to avoid being arrested after he violated the terms of his probation for robbery in 1978, according to the Department of Justice.
Peterson was reportedly assigned a new Social Security number under the name “Steele” in 1978 and fled the United States. He then used the false identity to apply for a United States passport while in Honduras…