JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A former Jacksonville businessman accused of faking his own death and then stealing another man's identity appeared before a federal judge in North Carolina on Friday.
According to federal investigators, 62-year-old Jose Lantigua was living in Asheville, North Carolina, years after his family told his insurance company that he died from a heart attack in Venezuela.
News4Jax reporter Chris Parenteau was in the courtroom in North Carolina on Friday. Cameras were not allowed inside.
Lantigua appeared before Judge Dennis Howell, wearing a brown prison uniform and leg shackles. Lantigua walked to his seat slowly with his head down after he entered the courtroom. His beard is still dyed. He didn't speak to the judge but conferred with his attorney briefly before the hearing started.
Lantigua's attorney waived both a preliminary hearing and the detention hearing. Howell continued the hearing until a date that will be set when federal defense attorney Mary Ellen Coleman requests it. Until then, Lantigua will remain in the custody of federal agents.
The federal prosecutor, Don Gast, didn't object.
Lantigua's wife, Daphne Simpson, was with him when he was arrested. She was released after questioning and went home to Ponte Vedra, where she was arrested later that night on eight counts of insurance fraud.
Lantigua had $9 million in life insurance policies. Simpson was given $500,000 from one of the policies two months after Lantigua's reported death. Another $250,000 payout was made later.
An arrest warrant for Simpson (pictured) identifies her as a co-conspirator with Lantigua in the insurance scheme. It said the claim filed by Lantigua's lawyer said he went to Venezuela to be treated for mad cow disease and died from complications.
The warrant says a house in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Sapphire, North Caroline, that Simpson is said to have owned had a hidden room, and one of the construction workers said a man matching Lantigua's description had been living there since April 2013.
Randy Reep, a local attorney who is not affiliated with the case, said Lantigua probably had a backup plan if things went south.
"He had a 20-inch steel basement, walls of 20-inch steel in his house -- a safe room," Reep said. "I guess if you're apt to die multiple times, you probably need a safe room."
Lantigua was the owner of Circle K furniture in Jacksonville. According to police, once the business began to go under, Lantigua went looking for a solution.
"(A) guy runs into financial trouble. What's a good way to get out of financial trouble, especially if you're trying to protect your family? Run up and get a bunch of insurance policies and then die," Reep said. "Well, you've got to die if you really die, and in this case he was being treated -- at least the reports say -- for mad cow disease, and went to Venezuela to treat it, and ultimately 'died' from that."
After family members said he had been cremated, insurance investigators began looking into the case and found his death had been faked. Authorities didn't locate him until last week, after facial recognition technology was able to prove he was living in Asheville. Some minor mistakes on his end also helped police in their search, investigators said.
"When he applied for his passport he used the name of an African-American male in the U.S., the Social Security number of a deceased white female, but one thing he got right: He continued to list his wife on his passport application as his wife," Reep said.
The state will let Lantigua make bond if he can, but he must prove that the bond money was not obtained fraudulently.
Reep said that might be tough for Lantigua.