Crime

Lawyers Discover Typo That Prevents Defendant From Faking His Own Death

Oopsie!

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Imagine you’re a defendant who’s pleaded guilty to two felony charges for possessing a stolen car and attempting to steal a pickup truck. You’re now facing sentencing, but you’d rather be dead than go to jail. Hmm… maybe you’ll fake your own death so you don’t have to do time for your crime.

That’s the bright idea that Robert Berger, 25, allegedly had last September. He reportedly created his own death certificate and had his significant other pass it off to his lawyer, who then sent it to the district attorney’s office. There was just one problem: a glaring typo.

The New York Times has the details on what led to this discovery:

The name of the deceased was typed in an unusual font on the death certificate. Other details, like the manner of death, appeared to be printed in much smaller type than normal. And then there was the biggest red flag that the document was fake: The name of the department that would have issued it was misspelled.

The death certificate, which supposedly came from the New Jersey Department of Health, Vital Statistics and Registry, had it rendered as “Regsitry.”

“We’ve seen it where people fake their deaths so that they can receive life insurance benefits or where family members have died and no one notifies anyone so they could keep collecting those benefits,” said Madeline Singas, the Nassau County district attorney. “But I’ve never seen anything like this.”

After some quick research, prosecutors determined that the death certificate had been falsified. Berger was still very much alive, and in fact, was arrested again during the time he’d been faking his death. He’s now been charged with forging a death certificate, and faces up to four years in prison if convicted.

Ms. Singas said the case served as a reminder to her office to double-check documents and as a lesson to others.

“I would say it’s probably a bad idea to give phony documents to the district attorney,” Ms. Singas said. “You’re going to get caught.”

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He Might Have Been Able to Fake His Death, if Only He’d Spell-Checked [New York Times]

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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