Identity thief sentenced to federal prison

The Daily Inter Lake

A fugitive discovered by detectives during an investigation into an accidental shooting death in Hungry Horse has been sentenced to 75 months in federal prison for identity theft.

During a sentencing hearing Friday in U.S. District Court in Missoula, Billy Don Cummings, 49, also was ordered to serve three years of supervised release following his discharge from prison.

Cummings pleaded guilty in August to aggravated identity theft, misuse of a Social Security number, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Felony identity theft charges filed in Flathead County, to which Cummings pleaded innocent in March, have been dropped in favor of federal prosecution.

According to prosecutors, Cummings used the name, birth date, and Social Security number of a man who died in 1978 to incur more than $1,000 in medical and utility debt. He also used the man's identity to work and to receive unemployment insurance and workers compensation checks.

Cummings may have started using the alias, which belonged to his common-law wife's deceased husband, as early as 1998.

He also used the alias to avoid prosecution and probation for crimes committed in Idaho.

While investigating the February shooting death of 22-year-old Tyson Armijo of Hungry Horse, detectives discovered that Cummings - who witnessed the shooting - had a warrant out of Bonner County, Idaho, for allegedly sexually abusing a minor.

The shooting later was ruled an accident.

Armijo was loading nine guns into the back of a car outside Cummings' Hungry Horse home on Feb. 12 when he slipped backward on some ice. A .22-caliber rifle went off, sending one round into his left eye.

The rifle had a portion of the barrel illegally sawed off, prompting investigators to consider filing gun charges against Cummings in addition to charges for the newly discovered identity theft.

Cummings, who later admitted to being a felon in possession of a firearm, told prosecutors he was storing the firearms for Armijo, who was on probation and thus prohibited from keeping weapons in his home.

Besides the .22-caliber rifle, authorities recovered three shotguns, two black-powder pistols, two .22-caliber revolvers and a .30-06 caliber Mauser rifle.