After 14 Years, Impostor Caught

In the course of more than a decade, authorities say, Florida resident Douglas Staas racked up $200,000 in bad debts, was arrested at least three times and was slapped with a number of speeding and drunken-driving citations.

But none of this tarnished his record.

That’s because Staas took the identity of California resident Clay Monroe Henderson for 14 years.

Thousands of miles away in Buellton, near Vandenberg Air Force Base, the real Henderson fought a frustrating battle against creditors and even law enforcement officials to salvage his reputation.

Then, three months ago, after receiving a credit report with an address in Florida, Henderson alerted authorities there that the impostor’s activities apparently centered in rural Hernando County, according to Rick Morera with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

On Wednesday, Staas was arrested and placed in the Hernando County jail, about an hour north of Tampa. He could face as much as 80 years in prison.

“It’s really unusual from the standpoint that Staas maintained [Henderson’s] identity for as long as he did,” Morera said. “Most of the time people just run up a bunch of debts once and you never see it again.”

It all began in 1987 when Henderson, who then lived in Texas, befriended a man and then lost his wallet while vacationing in Daytona Beach.

“All I know is my wallet was missing,” said Henderson, interviewed Thursday at his home in Buellton.

Staas denied stealing Henderson’s wallet, but he reportedly said Henderson picked him up as Staas hitchhiked from Texas to Florida.

Henderson, a computer technician at Vandenberg, has a different version.

He says he met Staas in 1987 while the two worked on a construction job in El Paso. He says that when he learned that Staas and Staas’ wife were driving to Florida, he hitched a ride with them.

“My wallet disappeared in Daytona,” he said. “Staas wasn’t around when that happened.”

Henderson and police say that even without the wallet, Staas had learned enough about his new friend to easily assume his identity.

“A few years later, stuff started trickling in on credit reports,” Henderson said. “I thought it was an accident.”

The bad credit ratings continued to dog him.

Officials say that over the years, Staas’ actions cast a constant shadow over Henderson’s life, preventing him from renting apartments or receiving credit cards.

The impostor bounced around Florida, picking up work from county to county. Officials said the lines blurred so much that Staas married twice under the name Henderson and even had his teenage daughter take the name.

In the mid-1990s, the situation took on a new level of seriousness when the real Henderson was arrested in California on an outstanding Florida warrant. He was able to convince authorities his identity had been stolen after submitting his fingerprints.

“It doesn’t make life easy,” Henderson said.

Henderson started making inquiries. It took time.

Finally, earlier this year, he got a credit report with his name on it and an address in Florida. He told Florida officials someone there was using his identity.

“The Hernando County Sheriff’s Office really stuck their necks out,” he said. “I left it in their hands. They did the footwork.”

Authorities said they believe Staas was a professional impostor who used at least half a dozen names in almost as many states over nearly 20 years. The suspect also left a trail of criminal activity under these names.

Staas faces a hefty list of charges, including seven counts of using fake identification, one count of giving a false name to authorities, one count of organized scheme to defraud and four counts of possession of a fake driver’s license, authorities say.

Henderson said he’s angry that the person who stole his identity is a man he once considered a friend.

“It makes me very sad to think that all these years it was someone I knew,” he said.

Times staff writer Eric Malnic contributed to this story.