"John Doe" gets 30 months for stealing more than 20 identities

Scott Andrew Shain felt his life was a failure, and he certainly had an argument: Elected to a weeklong term as class president in grade school, by Thursday the other kids wanted to impeach him. A student of classical guitar who practiced for hours in the bathroom, watching his fingering in the mirror, he finally arrived at the conclusion that the world only needs six classical guitarists: "I was the seventh."

The failures go on, documented in his court file: His father was an Air Force pilot, but when Shain took flying lessons at 16, it took him nearly seven hours to land on his first solo flight — a "near disaster," he said. Joining the Air Force, he washed out of flight school. He joined a band as a guitarist, and his bandmates fired him because of his abrasive personality.

He started his own band, and his bandmates quit.

And then, one day in 1985, homeless and suicidal in Boston, Shain became someone else: Steven Paige.

Paige got an apartment. Paige got a job. Paige got a girlfriend.

"Could there be a clearer contrast?" Shain asked his lawyer, public defender Paula Deutsch. "Just by calling myself something different, I could be different."

Or so he thought.

Shain fooled himself — and everyone else — for almost 20 years. During that time, he adopted the identities of more than 20 people, many of them long dead. When he finally got caught last year, it took federal agents nearly five months to figure out who he really was.

On Friday, the 53-year-old Shain — originally indicted on identity-theft charges under the name "John Doe" — was sentenced to 30 months in prison on charges of aggravated identity theft, Social Security fraud and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Federal sentencing guidelines recommended that Shain serve at least 48 months in prison; however, U.S. District Judge John Coughenhour said Shain's history of mental-health issues, and his acceptance of responsibility by pleading guilty, justified the lesser sentence.

In a sentencing memorandum, federal prosecutors sought a term of 34 months. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Johanna Vanderlee said Shain had not used the fake identities to defraud anyone or "enhance his personal lifestyle."

When Shain was arrested last year in Seattle, he was living in a filthy, windowless storage area in a rundown office building on lower Queen Anne. He paid $75 a month in rent.

Over the years, Shain developed a disturbing preoccupation with firearms. In 1998, he applied three times for concealed-weapons permits, under three different names and submitting three different sets of fingerprints. He tried twice to disfigure his hands to hide his prints, according to court records.

The case came to light in September 2007 when Shain attempted to get a birth certificate for a man named Dwayne Spill from the British Columbia Department of Vital Statistics. Officials there determined that Spill had died in 1982 and contacted authorities.

An investigation by the Social Security Administration quickly determined that Shain had used several other aliases as well.

Agents said the case was incredibly complex, partly because Shain had become adept at covering his tracks. Social Security Administration Special Agent Joseph Velling said Shain would sometimes adopt an identity and obtain a Social Security card, driver's license and other identity in that name, only to go to court — sometimes in another state — and have that name legally changed.

One identity he used, "Blake Desmond," replaced "Bernard O'Daly," of Boston, which is Shain's hometown. He changed it after moving West.

A psychiatrist determined that he suffered from major depressive disorder and "schizoid and avoidant personality disorders."

"Shain told (the doctor) that 'starting over' with new identities was initially exciting and fun, but that eventually, he realized he was still himself, with the same problems, and that he used the identities because he wanted to avoid contact with others," Vanderlee wrote.

Mike Carter: 206-464-3706 or mcarter@seattletimes.com