Northfield Man Sentenced in Federal Court on Charges of Fraud, Identity Theft

A federal court today sentenced Northfield's Peter Bruce Mathews, 54, to 34 months in prison for using the identity of others, including that of a dead man, to obtain passports, social security cards, bank accounts and credit cards with false identification.

Mathews, also known as Peter Hammer, was indicted on Sept. 15 last year and was subsequently convicted on Dec. 16 following a three-day trial.

According to a statement from the US Justice Department, Mathews twice made false statements on passport applications and committed social security fraud and aggravated identity theft when he used the name, date of birth and social security number of deceased persons in an attempt to obtain two separate passports.

According to a law enforcement affidavit filed in the case, Mathews applied for US passports in 1997 and 2009 while identifying himself as someone else. In support of the applications, he presented Minnesota driver’s licenses and birth certificates with names identical to those on the applications.

All tolled, Mathews applied for four passport applications using two different names. 

Updates will come as more information is obtained.