Pocono News Section

I-Team: False Identity Fools Police Officer

I-Team: False Identity Fools Police Officer - Friday, September 4, 2009 at 5:39PM EST

Reported by: Jeff Chirico
Friday, Sep 4, 2009 @ 05:39pm EST
A Scranton man is fuming after a police department charged him with a crime he didn't commit. It's a case of mistaken identity that wasn't resolved until the I-Team got involved. Consumer and investigative reporter Jeff Chirico has the story you'll only see on Eyewitness News.

The Scranton man contacted the I-Team after he got nowhere trying to clear his name with Wilkes-Barre police. Last month, an officer arrested the driver of a car on drug charges. That suspect then fooled police by claiming he was someone else.

“I thought it was insane that they could charge somebody else in my name and not check to see it was me." Darcey Kravchenko says he wasn't the man arrested in a traffic stop in Wilkes-Barre last month. His sister's boyfriend was in a car Darcey says he had just sold to her. "Who did he say he was? Darcey Kravchenko. But the cop took fingerprints and photos but didn't bother to run them."

So Darcey got the summons that he was facing drug charges. The other man walked free --a man he says has a long rap sheet. "I don't understand with felony warrants can give somebody's name and incorrect information and walk out of the police station.

Gary Shoener is an instructor at the police academy at Lackawanna College. He isn't part of the investigation but can speak about proper police procedures. He says police should be able to verify someone's identity using PennDOT or fingerprinting databases. "For misdemeanor if it is on view arrest, is going to be taken in and fingerprinted. That's going to be the best source." But Shoener says not every department has the latest technology --so mistakes can happen.

Wilkes-Barre police won't talk about the case --saying it's an ongoing investigation. Darcey says police only dropped the charges after he contacted the I-Team. He believes the problem could have been prevented if police had done a little more checking. "I want Wilkes-Barre police to do their job. And I would appreciate an apology and a retraction in the paper."

Although the charges have been withdrawn, they remain on his record. To get the record cleared, he would need to get a court order.