Placer County, CA…Since 1993, Larry Smith has been arrested numerous times, been sent to state prison, paroled, obtained welfare and Medicare benefits and gotten married. Only he isn’t really Larry Smith, he’s Joseph Kidd, an Auburn area transient.

The real Larry Smith’s 17-year nightmare ended yesterday when the Placer County Sheriff’s Office, with the help of the Sacramento Police Department, arrested Kidd along New Airport Road. Smith resides in Florida and has been subjected to 17 years of trouble at the hands of Kidd, 56, who was booked at the Placer County Jail Tuesday afternoon on charges of identity theft, welfare fraud and grand theft.

The case was brought to the attention of Placer County Sheriff’s Detective Jim Hudson on Tuesday morning. After reviewing welfare records, it was determined that Kidd had filed for benefits using a false name. Further investigation quickly unraveled Kidd’s two-decade-long crime spree. Deputies familiar with Auburn-area transients immediately recognized Kidd’s mug shot as a man who called himself Larry Smith.

Within minutes, the deputies found Kidd and he was arrested.

The real Larry Smith, 67, who has no criminal record, told Hudson that he was jailed for eight days, had liens placed against his taxes, was denied medical care had his driver’s license suspended and many other atrocities committed against him by Kidd. Smith has contacted law enforcement agencies across the country in an attempt to straighten out the identity theft, to no avail.