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O.C. Homeless Man Poses As A Woman For Medical Care

The 51-year-old cross-dresser had run up hundreds of thousands in medical costs under a woman's name. The ordeal has been a "nightmare" for the victim, sheriff's official says.

A homeless man in California is accused of stealing a woman's identity for 13 years and racking up more than $100,000 in medical care expenses.

Police in San Clemente say they found Perla Serrano -- who appeared to be a woman -- sleeping Sunday in a public area. But a deputy noted a hospital wristband with a different name than the one the person gave. Soon, the 51-year-old suspect's gender became in doubt, according to ABCNews.com.

“The deputy called San Clemente Hospital and was informed by San Clemente personnel that the person was actually a man, not a woman,” Orange County Sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino told ABC.

The victim, who is only being named as "Perla K," has apparently suffered a long ordeal because of the alleged identity theft.

"It's been a nightmare for 13 years," .

The victim has had to go to court several times to straighten out various arrest warrants for various infractions.

Serrano now faces two felony counts, each of unauthorized use of personal identifying information and false impersonation, as well as single felony counts each of second-degree burglary and grand theft.

Brash Brazen March 18, 2012 at 10:20 pm
13 years ?!? What kind of quack doctors couldn't tell that this was a man & not a woman ? I'm don't claim to be an expert in this field,but don't doctor's take anatomy classes pretty early in medical school !?!
Joker Joe March 19, 2012 at 12:47 pm
Patch should report on who the doctors were.
This is why Obama is eliminating billions in medicare in 2013. Who can blame him??
Adrian Forester March 24, 2012 at 08:08 pm
Not only do I think that the victim should be rid of all her legal and medical expenses--not to mention associated costs involved in getting her identity back, but also, the perpetrator (the homeless man), as a sentence, should be required to work at a job AND not receive a cent from his labor. He should be forced to pay back to the lady all that he stole from her. I feel we need stronger laws to protect ID Theft victims, and ways to prevent this from happening to others.
Scott Gould PS: Do you like to read new and interesting stories? Go to: www.scottstales.com

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