The amazing part: the accused thief is still claiming he's the dead man. You just might call this a case of dead man walking.
"Mr. Lizandro, could you please tell us why you stole a dead man's identity?" I asked him.
But Louis Lizandro is denying it still, even after being arrested by Brooklyn District Attorney investigators for identity theft and other charges.
"Bobby James Standifier," he says is his name.
But the real Bobby Standifier was a U.S. citizen who died in Panama in the late '90's. We found his death certificate. He and his brother, Ernie, who later moved to Brooklyn, knew Lizandro in Panama from a Reggae band.
Ernie told us Lizandro stole his brother's identity.
"Yeah, he stole it," Ernie said.
The brother says he had no idea Lizandro had illegally used Bobby's name to get into the U.S. and was living in Ernie's neighborhood in Brooklyn. He says he repeatedly confronted Lizandro, a known neighborhood drug dealer.
"Yeah. He just don't care," Ernie explained. "He just don't care. It's my word against his. He says you gotta prove it."
Lizandro's been in and out of jail and prison where he served two years for selling drugs, as Bobby Standifier.
He also has been allegedly collecting government benefits, food stamps, and medical benefits.
"He was taking advantage of the people who pay taxes every single day, every single week, every single month," Joel Greenwald, Asst. Brooklyn District Attorney, said.
What's perhaps hardest for Ernie, he was at his brother's bedside when he died of Tuberculosis in Panama.
"He actually died in my arms," Ernie said.
Lizandro says Ernie is wrong, and continues to insist that he is Bobby Standifier. Lizandro has been booked under his real name. He's also charged with gun possession. He says he's not guilty.
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