6. The Case of Gerald Barnbaum
The case of German Barnbaum is a complicated and long story of former pharmacists who pretended to be a doctor between 1971 and 2000. After his license had been revoked after Medicaid fraud charges in 1971, Barnbaum stole the identity of a doctor in Stockton — Gerald Barnes and started working as a physician in the Los Angeles and Southern California area. His lack of medical knowledge led to the death of a young man, John McKenzie who died from an undiagnosed Type I diabetes. When the blood test came several days later, the results showed severe hyperglycemia. Barnbaum’s assistant called the police and in 1980 Barnbaum was charged with second-degree murder eventually sentenced to only 3 years and 4 months. Barnbaum continued with the fraud upon leaving prison but was soon caught again. The imposter continued to seek work as a physician and earned over $400,000 during the period. His final fraud was when he was employed as a physician at Executive Health Group, a clinic that handled physical checkups on FBI agents. He tried to defend by faking a heart attack while he was being questioned but eventually pled guilty and was sentenced to 12.5 years in prison. But this seemed too easy and so the imposter escaped from prison but was quickly captured.
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Up next on our list we have top five biggest identity theft cases in American history.
