A 35-year-old Kalispell man has pleaded not guilty to felony identity theft.
Joshua Stephen Wilson was charged with identity theft in February and appeared at an arraignment last week. He will stand trial later this year.
According to court documents, Wilson was pulled over by a Kalispell Police Department officer in November 2017 for normal traffic volition. When the officer searched for information based on the name Wilson had given he turned up empty handed. The officer separately asked Wilson’s wife, who was also in the car, what the man’s name was and she gave a different spelling than Wilson had initially given.
Upon further investigation, law enforcement discovered that Wilson had been using a Utah man’s name, social security number and date of birth for nearly a decade. The Utah man, who is named in court records, had recently reported his identity stolen after being informed that he owed a Montana hospital more than $14,000. Law enforcement discovered that Wilson, using the Utah man’s name, had received extensive care at the hospital in 2016.
According to court records, Wilson eventually admitted that he had stolen the Utah man’s identity years earlier. Wilson had previously been in prison in Utah and, after getting out, started using a different name to avoid getting arrested again on a new warrant.
If convicted, Wilson could face up to 10 years in prison.