A Tacoma man who spent years living under the stolen identity of an Army National Guard veteran is back in federal court, this time accused of illegally possessing roughly 200 rounds of ammunition despite a felony record that bars him from having any. David Oswald III was charged Thursday with unlawful possession of ammunition by a convicted felon in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
Federal prosecutors said Oswald knowingly possessed approximately 200 rounds of MagTech .38-caliber ammunition, which investigators seized from his Tacoma home, according to KING 5. As a condition of his supervised release stemming from a prior federal conviction, Oswald had been prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition since 2013, the outlet reported, and court documents cited in the report say he faces a new federal charge after the ammunition turned up in his home.
A Stolen Identity That Lasted Years
The new charge traces back to a sprawling identity-theft case that first surfaced in 2012, when federal agents opened an investigation into years of fraud involving a military veteran from North Carolina, per the station's report. That veteran, Bobby Lee Triplett, had served as an Army National Guard member deployed multiple times to Iraq. Investigators determined Oswald had been using Triplett's identity since 2006, living under the name Bobby Lee Triplett in Vermont.
Triplett's ordeal began after he reported his vehicle stolen in Tacoma in 2005. When the vehicle was recovered, it was missing military documents bearing his name, Social Security number and date of birth, the same account notes. From there, the fallout piled up: Triplett began receiving bills for medical treatment in Vermont, a state he said he had never visited, eventually reporting around $4,000 in bills for care he never received. He also received a Vermont income tax bill for $2,500, reported an unauthorized credit card purchase in Washington, and reported an attempted vehicle purchase made using his identity.
Passport, Voter Registration and Guns Obtained Under a Veteran's Name
Using the stolen identity, Oswald obtained a U.S. passport and a Vermont identification card, the outlet reported. Investigators said he went on to register to vote, purchase firearms and receive medical treatment, all under Triplett's name. According to a 2012 complaint referenced in the report, Oswald admitted obtaining Triplett's stolen identification from someone in Washington.
Federal agents eventually tracked Oswald down living in a camper in Jonesville, Vermont, in September 2012. A search of the camper turned up seven guns, including a 9mm Walther pistol, per the same account.
Guilty Pleas and a 140-Month Sentence
Oswald's Vermont federal case resulted in a 140-month prison sentence handed down in 2013. He pleaded guilty to four offenses: failure to register as a sex offender, health care fraud, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and possession of child pornography, with the sentences for all four running concurrently, the outlet reported.
The court also ordered Oswald to pay $52,935.30 in restitution to two Vermont medical providers and barred him from possessing firearms or ammunition going forward as a condition of supervised release. Court documents cited in the report additionally identified prior Washington state felony convictions for third-degree assault of a child with sexual motivation and unlawful possession of a firearm.
Part of a Larger Pattern Targeting Veterans
Oswald's case fits into a much broader problem facing military families. Veterans reported $350 million in total fraud losses to the Federal Trade Commission in 2023 alone, up nearly $60 million from the previous year, according to MOAA. More than 74,000 veterans and military retirees reported fraud that year, with 31% of those reports involving an actual financial loss.
Identity theft in particular has been climbing among military consumers nationwide. Credit-card-related identity theft reports involving military consumers rose to 14,742 in 2023, up from 14,501 the year before, MOAA's analysis found. Similar cases have surfaced elsewhere in the country, including a scheme in which Robert Wayne Boling Jr., a Philippines-based American, pleaded guilty to running a fraud operation that victimized thousands of military members and veterans, facing up to 40 years in prison, as reported by CyberScoop.
