Navy deserter sentenced for passport fraud

Published 12:01 am Tuesday, June 14, 2011

FAIRBANKS, Alaska — A 26-year-old man who deserted from the U.S. Navy in Virginia five years ago and assumed a new identity in Alaska has been sentenced to five months in jail for passport fraud.

Royce Allen Eagle received credit for time served since his December arrest when he was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Fairbanks.

Authorities say Eagle deserted from the Navy in Norfolk, Va., in 2006 and fled to Alaska. He created a false identity under the name “Rick Engle.” He obtained a “delayed birth certificate,” telling a state judge he was born in Nome but the birth was never recorded.

After getting the birth certificate, he tried to obtain a Social Security card and a U.S. passport under the false name.

Investigators found his true identity through fingerprints.