This is an odd story - perhaps a normal Tennesse thing - anyone see anything wrong here?
A Tennessee man was living using a different name for decades. No one knew his true identity — not even his girlfriend of 30 years, the mother of their three children. That was until one small detail led law enforcement officials to his real identity: his COVID-19 vaccine. Jerry Leon Blankenship, 65, from Newport, a city about 50 miles east of Knoxville, had been using someone else’s identity since the early 1980s, according to court documents obtained by McClatchy News.
In the early 1980s, Blankenship was in a short relationship with a woman. When the woman heard he went AWOL from the Navy, she suggested he used the identity of the father of her child to avoid trouble from the military, court documents show. She shared important information such as his social security number with Blankenship. After he and the woman separated, he met the “estranged” daughter of his first wife, from a different relationship, and they started dating, authorities said. Documents show the two settled in Newport where they raised three children and built a home repair business together. “Although it came as a surprise to us all when we found out he had been taken into custody and why, it doesn’t change who he is as a person,” Blankenship’s daughter said in a letter. “Daddy has always been an incredible, faithful, caring and honest man (minus the name.) He is an outstanding citizen,” she added.
A Tennessee man was living using a different name for decades. No one knew his true identity — not even his girlfriend of 30 years, the mother of their three children. That was until one small detail led law enforcement officials to his real identity: his COVID-19 vaccine. Jerry Leon Blankenship, 65, from Newport, a city about 50 miles east of Knoxville, had been using someone else’s identity since the early 1980s, according to court documents obtained by McClatchy News.
In the early 1980s, Blankenship was in a short relationship with a woman. When the woman heard he went AWOL from the Navy, she suggested he used the identity of the father of her child to avoid trouble from the military, court documents show. She shared important information such as his social security number with Blankenship. After he and the woman separated, he met the “estranged” daughter of his first wife, from a different relationship, and they started dating, authorities said. Documents show the two settled in Newport where they raised three children and built a home repair business together. “Although it came as a surprise to us all when we found out he had been taken into custody and why, it doesn’t change who he is as a person,” Blankenship’s daughter said in a letter. “Daddy has always been an incredible, faithful, caring and honest man (minus the name.) He is an outstanding citizen,” she added.
