Ship captain pleads guilty to stealing infant’s identity

GALVESTON — A League City woman who spent two decades as a yacht captain for dinner cruises and charters cruise ship captain pleaded guilty in federal court this week to charges that she stole the identity of a dead infant in order to obtain a fake Social Security number and assume a false persona.

Cynthia Lyerla, 53, pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft, admitting to obtaining the birth certificate of Christina White, who died at birth in 1965, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release.

Prosecutors said Lyerla, born Cynthia Lynn Fox in 1964, used Christina’s birth certificate to obtain driver’s licenses, passports, mariner licenses and Transportation Security Administration documentation allowing her to enter secure port areas.

Lyerla used the fake documents to get a job as ship captain for Majestic Ventures, Majestic Dinner Cruises and Majestic Yacht dinner cruise lines.

Her true identity was discovered when fingerprints taken in connection with her mariner license application were compared to prints taken during the investigation of the murder of her former husband, Harold Lyerla, who was killed in 1988 in Lompoc, Calif., according to the news release.

Another person was convicted of the murder, but since then Cynthia Lyerla has used her stolen identity, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

U.S. District Judge George Hanks set Lyerla’s sentencing for June 7. She faces up to 10 years imprisonment for making false statements in a passport application and a mandatory 24-month sentence for aggravated identity theft.

Lyerla was permitted to remain free on bond pending the sentencing hearing.