## Facts

- Nathan Lumbard was arrested in Michigan on multiple state warrants, released on a $100,000 bond, and then decided to flee to avoid incarceration.
- Lumbard paid Justin Cheesebrew $500 for Cheesebrew’s personal identifying information, including birth date, Social Security number, and birth/parental information.
- Using Cheesebrew’s identifiers, Lumbard obtained a driver’s license, a copy of Cheesebrew’s birth certificate, and a U.S. passport in Cheesebrew’s name bearing Lumbard’s photograph.
- Lumbard staged his apparent suicide and traveled through several Asian countries using the fraudulently obtained passport.
- After being located abroad, Lumbard was returned to the United States; he admitted to acquiring and using Cheesebrew’s information to obtain the passport and related documents.
- A federal indictment charged Lumbard with passport-application fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1542 and aggravated identity theft under 18 U.S.C. § 1028A(a)(1), (c)(7).
- Lumbard entered a conditional guilty plea preserving his right to appeal the denial of his motion to dismiss the § 1028A count; the district court denied the motion and imposed a total 48-month sentence.

## Issues

1. Whether using another person’s identifying information for passport fraud is “use[], without lawful authority, a means of identification of another person” under 18 U.S.C. § 1028A(a)(1) when the identifier was purchased from, and provided with the consent of, the person identified.

## Decision

- The Sixth Circuit affirmed the judgment, including the denial of the motion to dismiss and the aggravated identity theft conviction.
- The court held that “without lawful authority” under § 1028A does not turn on the identity holder’s consent.
- Purchasing identifying information from its rightful holder and using it to commit a predicate felony (passport fraud) can satisfy § 1028A(a)(1).

## Legal Principles

- Under 18 U.S.C. § 1028A(a)(1), “lawful authority” refers to legal authorization, not private permission from the person whose identifying information is used.
- Consent by the person identified does not confer legal authority to use that person’s identifiers to make false statements to the federal government or obtain a passport for fraudulent purposes.
- Section 1028A focuses on the use, transfer, or possession of another’s means of identification during and in relation to an enumerated predicate felony; the manner of acquiring the identifiers (including purchase) does not remove the conduct from the statute’s scope.

## Conclusion

The Sixth Circuit held that a defendant who buys another person’s identifying information and uses it to obtain a passport through fraud acts “without lawful authority” under 18 U.S.C. § 1028A, even if the identified person consented to the transaction, and it affirmed the conviction.


United States v. Lumbard, 706 F.3d 716 (6th Cir. 2013)