This reminds me of a great documentary I watched a few months ago, about this guy named Frédéric Bourdin who managed to impersonate (from a jail cell in Spain) a boy who had gone missing in Texas:<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Imposter_(2012_film)" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Imposter_(2012_film)</a><p>These guys are creepy, for sure, but also fascinating for their ability to assume new personas at the drop of a hat.
The line about how people want to believe other people and how he took advantage of that really freaked me out.<p>I'm definitely thinking twice about simply listening and believing people.
Pretty interesting article. The guy's clearly quite intelligent. He could have been a successful (albeit likely sociopathic) entrepreneur or scientist if his life circumstances were a little different.
This guy seems to tick most of the boxes on the Psychopathy Checklist: [1]<p><i>Facet 1: Interpersonal</i><p>Glibness/superficial charm - needed to be an imposter with this much success, for so long<p>Grandiose sense of self-worth - evidence of this in spades in the article<p>Pathological lying - definitely<p>Cunning/manipulative - as an imposter, definitely<p><i>Facet 2: Affective</i><p>Lack of remorse or guilt - none whatsoever<p>Emotionally shallow - seems to be the case<p>Callous/lack of empathy - look at the way he treated his family!<p>Failure to accept responsibility for own actions - boasted nobody knows who he really is, doesn't care about what he did to his victims<p><i>Facet 3: Lifestyle</i><p>Need for stimulation/proneness to boredom - pretty self-evident, look at what he was doing!<p>Parasitic lifestyle - the very definition of an imposter of this nature<p>Lack of realistic, long-term goals - definitely, went from victi to victim, got caught, did jail time, went straight back to it<p>Impulsivity - pretty obvious I'd say<p>Irresponsibility - highly!<p><i>Facet 4: Antisocial</i><p>Poor behavioral controls - obviously!<p>Early behavioral problems - detailed in story, early larceny and violent crime with a crossbow<p>Juvenile delinquency - as above<p>Revocation of conditional release - yup<p>Criminal versatility - absolutely!<p>Many short-term marital relationships - no evidence of this, but used Angela K. Stamm<p>Promiscuous sexual behavior - no way of knowing<p>---<p>In short, this is a very dangerous guy and I'd say he has no prospect of rehabilitation. It's not often you read a story of someone who satisfies every criteria and partially matches one, with the final one uncertain without delving into their past deeply.<p>I'm a believer in restorative justice, but in this case, for the good of society, it would be best not to let him out for a very, very long time. I'd very cautious of accepting his contrition because it was qualified and it is almost certain he doesn't care about the terrible things he put his victims through.<p>Psychopaths know how to manipulate, and there is definitely something wrong with them. They literally have no conscience!<p>1. <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopathy_Checklist" rel="nofollow">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopathy_Checklist</a>
Stopped reading halfway through.. made my stomach sick. More specifically, the part where he tranfers his hosts SSN in court through forged documents while he was staying there.