Walt Disney World is known for being the “most magical place on Earth” but one visiting fugitive had his trip cut short when he was discovered by law enforcement after nearly a year of evading the police.
Quashon Burton was on the run from police for a year after he was implicated in an identity theft scheme to steal $150,000 from pandemic loans. Burton was vacationing at Walt Disney World in Florida when Jeff Andre, a federal postal inspector, spotted him.
“In order to carry out his scheme, Burton fraudulently obtained and used names, dates of birth and social security numbers of at least four people,” court documents said.
Officers from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service tried to arrest Burton at his home in Brooklyn back in November 2021 but he wasn’t there at the time. Officers tried him at home on two other occasions with no luck.
“Perhaps the most concerning factor here is the defendant’s persistent use of false identities and his demonstrated ability to evade law enforcement. He has clearly demonstrated an ability to mask his true identity to evade law enforcement. So too has he demonstrated a willingness to lie about this identity to avoid arrest,” the court documents said.
The New York man had been visiting Disney World under a fake name and refused to identify himself by his legal name. When Andre spotted Burton at Animal Kingdom, he alerted the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. The local authorities placed a deputy outside the park where they were able to stop Burton with two of his family members.
“At the time he was arrested in Disney World, he was present in the park under a false name. Even after fingerprints confirmed his identity, he persisted in telling law enforcement that he was not Quashon Burton,” according to court documents.
Burton was taken to Orange County Jail and later placed in federal custody. He was charged with conspiracy to steal government funds, theft of government funds and aggravated identity theft. A Southern District of New York judge ruled that Burton should not be granted bail ahead of his trial, taking into account the prior failures to appear in court.