EVERETT — For eight years it appeared that Robert Long had finally beaten his drug addiction.
Long completed substance abuse treatment while serving time in prison for a series of property crimes he had committed to feed his habit. He had been part of a huge forgery and identity theft ring some 15 years ago.
Once out of prison, Long attended community college, earned a license in wastewater management and landed a good job.
“During this time, Mr. Long was a loving father to two children and provided support financially and emotionally to his family. He was proud of the person he’d become,” his attorney recently wrote.
Long was in a car accident in 2013 and was prescribed pain medication. That developed into an opiate addiction. He lost his job and returned to his criminal ways.
A judge recently sentenced Long to nearly five years in prison for a crime spree that spanned multiple cities and included dozens of victims. Long, 47, was investigated by six police agencies in Snohomish and Skagit counties.
Arlington police already were investigating Long for mail theft in February when a homeless heroin addict found bags of mail and driver’s licenses thrown out in a trash bin, according to court papers. Within the bags officers found paperwork from the Marysville jail belonging to Long. They also found mail belonging to people in five different counties.
It appeared that Long was making bogus driver’s licenses using stolen information. Detectives searched Long’s vehicle and found stolen mail, including checks that Long had forged and cashed, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Teresa Cox wrote in court papers.
Long later confessed that he had created fake identifications and also stolen driver’s licenses and financial information from more than 70 people.
Several people wrote letters to Superior Court Judge George Appel before Long’s sentencing earlier this month.
“My privacy was violated. This person now knows where I live and my name. That’s an unsettling feeling,” one woman wrote. “I am now apprehensive about putting anything in my mailbox or having anything delivered to my door.”
Long’s actions have left her “feeling vulnerable and on alert.”
The defendant apologized for his crimes.
“Mr. Long knows that the worst part of his fall from grace is the impact it has had on those around him,” wrote his attorney, Elizabeth Mustin. “Members of his community and his own family have been deeply affected by his behavior and for that he is truly sorry.”
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.
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