In 2015, James Leslie Kelly went to a Verizon Wireless store and walked out with $300 worth of products and services. No problem, except that he was using an identity that belonged to a different James Kelly at the time. He was convicted last October and perhaps because this was far from his first brush with John Law, he’s currently serving a 10 year prison stretch.
Most of the time that would be where the story ends, but James Leslie Kelly is having none of that nonsense.
On that date, Kelly, 52, went to a Highlands County Verizon store and used his ID to steal from an existing customer with the same first and last name, but different middle name, he claims in a federal lawsuit.
The suit, filed last week, claims the Verizon employee spent an hour and a half with him and should have realized that the ID and information from the existing customer account did not match.Kelly claims Verizon’s “negligence” caused a “loss of civil liberties and freedoms,” because he was convicted and sentenced to prison in connection with the case.
He is seeking $72 million in damages.