NEWARK - A Newark Liberty Airport security supervisor pleaded not guilty to identity theft Tuesday as new details emerged about his alleged 20-year odyssey of deception, including that he may have assumed the identity of a New York man weeks before the man was slain.
Through his court-appointed attorney, Bimbo Olumuyiwa Oyewole pleaded not guilty to one count of identity theft, an offense punishable by a maximum 10-year sentence.
Standing in an orange prison jumpsuit, Oyewole appeared via video feed from the jail where he has been held since his arrest Monday at his home in Elizabeth.
Municipal Court Judge Roslyn Holmes-Grant raised his bail from $75,000 to $250,000 after Deputy Attorney General Vincent Militello said prosecutors believe Oyewole may have used several other aliases as well as the identity of Jerry Thomas, a petty criminal shot dead in New York in 1992. “We simply do not know who this gentleman is,’’ Militello told the judge. “Therefore he is a flight risk.’’
Oyewole also has been placed under a federal immigration detainer, essentially a notification that he has been identified for deportation to his native Nigeria.