'J. Doe' used fake ID to violate Navy, port security

Feds won't talk; former Navy security officers says man could be a spy

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A man federal prosecutors say used someone else's identity for more than 22 years to board Navy ships and access secure sites at Jacksonville's port was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison.

Authorities admit they still don't know the man's real identity.

"John Doe" -- also referred to in court documents as Leroy or L.T.H. -- was convicted in May of seven counts of aggravated identity theft, six counts of falsely representing a Social Security number and one count of passport fraud.

Prosecutors say the man used the Social Security Number of a living victim to obtain at least 23 government-issued forms of identification, including a passport, two Mayport Naval Station military contractor ID cards, three Florida ID cards and six replacement Social Security cards.

Investigators said the man had unescorted access on at least five different Navy vessels and used the personal identification information of the victim at to fraudulently obtain credentials from the Transportation Security Administration, allowing him unescorted access to secure areas of the Jacksonville Port Authority's Blount Island Marine Terminal.

Federal investigators won't discuss the case. A spokesman for Mayport Naval Station told Channel 4 that John Doe worked on the base in 2010, but he is "as much a mystery to the Navy as he is to the feds."

Attorney Sean Cronin, a former Navy security officer, said this is especially troubling because John Doe had access to military facilities and Blount Island was during the height of the war on terror, when large quantities of arms and supplies were being shipped through Jacksonville.

"This person has gone to great lengths to make their old life disappear and come up with a new, valid identity that they use to breach security here in the Jacksonville area," Cronin said. "There really is a potential here that this gentleman could be a spy."

The FBI, Customs and Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Department of State and Florida Highway Patrol were all involved in the investigation.