Traffic stop leads to ID scam bust

A Queens man’s long-running identity theft scam was exposed after he ran a red light, fled a traffic stop — and dragged a city cop for two blocks before wrecking his car.

Joel Burnett, 40, faces a 131⁄2-year prison sentence after pleading guilty last Thursday to stealing the identity of a severely autistic man upon immigrating from Jamaica in 2000, and then — 17 years later — assaulting the police officer once his car was pulled over July 26, 2017.

Before fleeing inside his black Nissan Maxima, Burnett showed a U.S. Virgin Islands license bearing the name of the autistic man, authorities said. When cops ordered him out of the car, Burnett instead stepped on the gas while dragging one of the officers along with his vehicle. The cop — despite a fractured knee and other injuries — arrested Burnett when he plowed into another car.

Once in custody, cops uncovered the bogus driver’s license Burnett got after his arrival in the U.S. in July 2000. Burnett assumed the name of the autistic man who lived in a group home.

“The defendant admitted to intentionally using his vehicle as a weapon against a police officer who was doing his job,” said Chief Assistant District Attorney John Ryan. “[In] the second case … he stole the identity of an autistic man.”

At his April 2 sentencing, Burnett will receive the 131⁄2-year term along with a five-year term of postrelease supervision. He faces a second term of 11⁄2 to three years to run concurrently in the identity-theft case.