Jailed for false passports bid using names of dead babies
American Parker, 73, gets 27-month term after admitting Irish applications offences
AN OAP who applied for passports in the names of two dead babies has been jailed for 27 months.
Judge Jonathan Dunphy said that Randolph Kirk Parker, 73, had threatened “the integrity of the passport system in this country” arising out of his offending behaviour.
Cork Circuit Criminal Court heard evidence from Detective Garda Padraig Hanley of the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, who said that reports relating to Parker first came to their attention in 2017.
In 2022, Parker made an application from Amsterdam in the Netherlands to renew an Irish passport in the name of Geoffrey Warbrook.
Detective Garda Hanley said this application sparked an investigation as Geoffrey Warbrook was the name of a child who died in the early 1950s in Ireland when he was an infant.
Parker was arrested on September 14, 2023 at the passport office in Cork.
He had appeared in person to renew a passport in the name of Philip Frank Morris.
Detective Garda Hanley said Parker had applied for a “fast track passport” in the name of Mr Morris in order to leave the country.
At that time, Gardai believed that the name of Mr Morris was his real identity. However,
Gardai subsequently established that Philip Morris was an Irish-born infant who died in 1952.
Det Garda Hanley said: “We had two identities for this person and four passports were applied for.
“Two applications in the name of Philip Morris and two in the name of Geoffrey Warbrook. He had falsely obtained genuine Irish passports.
“We had no idea who this person was. Numerous inquiries were carried out with the assistance of Interpol and the assistance of the US Embassy and Irish and international agencies.
“He had an [US] arrest record from 1970 in Michigan and was identified as Randolph Parker.”
Parker has a date of birth of March 7, 1951 and is a US national.
He was identified with the assistance of the FBI and the US Embassy.
Interpol had also liaised with their 195 member countries in a bid to help Gardai identify him. Parker held an Irish passport for three decades but only recently obtained a PPS number.
FALSE
Detective Garda Hanley said the charge sheet was amended to reflect the true identity of the man.
Parker was remanded in custody and appeared before the district court on several occasions.
In February of this year, Parker was sent forward for sentence at Cork Circuit Criminal Court after he pleaded guilty to four counts of using false information to obtain passports and one count of possessing a false instrument.
Det Garda Hanley said that the false instrument was a driving licence issued in 2011 in the name of Philip Morris.
Defence barrister, Brendan Kelly said: “He [Parker] has lived in the EU for some time but he is [still] effectively a foreign national with no familial connection.
“His time in custody will be difficult and egregious for him.”
Judge Dunphy yesterday jailed Parker for three and a half years, with the final 15 months suspended for two years.
The sentence was backdated to September of last year when Parker entered custody.
We had two identities for this person & four passports were applied for
DETECTIVE GARDA
PADRAIG HANLEY