Financial issues can pile up, and sometimes it feels like the only way out is to die. A man from Almelo had just that thought and faked his own death to avoid the financial burden.
But helaas, authorities caught on to his ploy. Even though it included posing as a funeral director and a forged Spanish birth certificate.
According to NOS, the Zutphen court sentenced him to 120 days, of which 103 were conditional. The judge described what unfolded as “serious,” noting death threats he made to municipal workers.
Dead on paper
Here’s how the 31-year-old set out to wipe his identity from the Dutch public records.
The first step involved turning up at the municipality of Enschede in the guise of an uitvaartondernemer (funeral director) to file a death report for himself.
It didn’t hold up for long.
Cross-checks at the local crematorium showed no record of anyone by that name ever arriving. This raised eyebrows.
The scheme fell through when he returned to pick up the death certificate. Staff had his photo on file and recognised him immediately.
Then he tried to become a Spaniard
Determined to get a fresh start, the man attempted to register with the municipality of Zwolle under a Spanish name.
The paperwork had problems.
The birth certificate from Spain was drawn up in Dutch, and the notarial declaration cited a law firm nobody could find.
Most importantly, for someone whose parents were supposedly Spanish, the municipality workers found it suspicious that his Dutch was flawless.
He also made a number of threats
Alongside the identity fraud, the Almelo local made a number of threats.
In one incident, he posed as his own social worker and threatened municipal workers that “his client” intended to shoot all staff with a machine gun.
He also told a neighbour in Doetinchem that he would open a gas valve at his home. The following day, he carried through on the threat and then rang the emergency services himself.
Responders found no danger of an explosion.
The sentence took into account a psychological finding of a serious personality disorder. He’s required to undergo treatment as a condition of release.
What do you think about this case? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.
