By Kimone Witter
A man believed to be Jamaican and who is referred to by US authorities as 'John Doe', has been sentenced in a US District Court in Florida to four years and three months in a federal prison for obstructing his deportation.
A federal jury found Doe guilty on February 15.
According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, Doe was first encountered by immigration authorities in January 1985 in Miami when he attempted to enter the US from Jamaica by claiming to be a US citizen named Freddie Davis.
He was allowed to voluntarily return to Jamaica.
Doe attempted to enter the US the following month, claiming to be a citizen of the Bahamas and using a fraudulent Bahamian passport in the name of Joseph Gordon. This ruse was discovered, and he was deported to Jamaica.
Three years later, US immigration authorities encountered him in Dallas after he had finished serving a prison sentence. Doe again claimed to be a US citizen under a different name.
Doe completed another prison sentence in Florida and in June 2018 was taken into custody by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Miami.
Over several months, US and Jamaican authorities tried to ascertain Doe's identity, but were unsuccessful.
When an ICE officer asked him his name, he responded "Only God knows my name."
The Jamaican consulate also informed ICE that it could not issue a travel document for Doe, because there was no conclusive evidence that he was a citizen of Jamaica.
The US authorities say Doe has used the names: Freddie Davis, Joseph Gordon, Ricardo Jones, Dave Davis, Patrick Melbourne, Frank Douglas and Danny Brooks while he has been illegally present in the country.
