Man guilty of passport fraud faces perjury charge

Friday, March 26, 1999 | 1:55 a.m.

John Raymond Kennedy, 48, was arrested on a perjury charge Thursday after prosecutors accused him of lying under oath at his sentencing two weeks ago.

Kennedy received a one-year prison sentence March 11 after he admitted obtaining a passport in a dead man's name.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Leif Reid has accused Kennedy of lying about his reason for committing the passport crime.

Kennedy pleaded guilty in November to making a false statement on a passport application, a felony, but he told the judge he obtained the passport as part of an academic project. Kennedy repeated that claim at his sentencing hearing.

U.S. District Judge David Hagen heard about four hours of testimony from several witnesses at Kennedy's sentencing hearing before finding that the former trooper had obstructed justice by lying in court.

Kennedy, a Las Vegas resident, was arrested Aug. 3 on the passport charge. Highway Patrol Chief Michael Hood fired him the following day from the job he had held since 1989.

Court documents claimed Kennedy fraudulently obtained a passport in July 1984 under the name of a 34-year-old man who had committed suicide in Aurora, Ill.