Original Blog Entry: Man impersonated governor to steal info

truesee — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:09:46 GMT

Man impersonated governor to steal info

Amelia A. Pridemore

Register-Herald Reporter

Sep 16, 2009 12:49 PM EDT

A Summers County man was jailed for impersonating both Gov. Joe Manchin and a state Division of Natural Resources officer when sending fake state job applications to people he met on the Internet, State Police said.

Matthew Don Reed, 32, of Grace Street, Hinton, was charged with impersonating a public official (to wit: Manchin), impersonating a state DNR officer and forgery of a public document, Sgt. T.L. Bragg said. Reed was being held Wednesday at Southern Regional Jail on $10,000 bond. He was arrested Monday.

Related documents date back to March 31, Bragg said.

Apparently, Reed met multiple people on the Internet and told them he was a DNR law enforcement officer.

He hired a Chicago man, who he also met online, to send target letters to people interested in DNR employment. Reed had apparently gathered their mailing addresses online.

In the mailed material, the people seeking DNR employment were instructed to come to the rural, sparsely populated Esquire Cemetery Road in Hinton, Bragg said.

The specific address Reed gave does not exist.

People were told to bring job applications, along with their birth certificates, Social Security numbers and some other form of identification.

Some applicants were from Virginia and possibly as far away as California.

Later, the same Chicago man received another letter Reed wanted sent out, Bragg said. Manchin was its purported author.

Besides the letter not having the governor s seal, its wording and spelling had some serious red flags. One section of it read (sic): It s nice to have you as an employee of West Virginia. Your super (boss) Matt talk a lot of thangs about you. I hope you stay with us a long time. If you got ? please ask Matt.

The letter concluded with Manchin s forged signature above his name, Bragg said.

The Chicago man checked with the DNR office in Charleston to see if Reed worked there, Bragg said.

That sparked an investigation from R.L. Miller a real DNR law enforcement officer.

Miller received documents from the Chicago man. When he discovered Reed s activities also involved the governor, Miller contacted State Police.

The governor s office and State Police Col. Timothy Pack were also notified.

Officers executed a search warrant at Reed s home last Friday, Bragg said.

There, they found documents that backed up the Chicago man s story.

Bragg noted Reed could also be behind similar activity involving State Police. During the search warrant execution, officers found state trooper job applications with other people s information on them.

People who were preparing to relocate to West Virginia for state trooper jobs have contacted State Police.

That remains under investigation as well as several other aspects.

Bragg said Reed had given troopers a statement admitting to some of the allegations.

LINK TO VIDEO:

http://www.wvva.com/Global/story.asp?S=11141720

Matthew Don Reed, 32, ofHinton, W.Va., is seen in this Sept. 14, 2009, booking photograph released by the West Virginia Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority.

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