CATEGORY: Twins, Evil, Crime
DIVISION: Modern Evil
EDITORIAL: Most of us invented friends or imaginary beings when we were children, but inventing an evil twin is just plain smart. What better way to deflect blame and responsibility than by pointing a finger at your sibling rival. Applied with psychiatric supervision, this could also have extraordinary therapeutic benefits.
Evil Twin Accused of Crafty Con
by Kate Eckman
CAPE CORAL: A Cape Coral man has been accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars. But when police started putting the pieces of the crime together, he claimed that they had it all wrong - it was his twin brother who committed the crimes.
Investigators told NBC2 the only difference between 57-year-old Anthony Calavano and Joseph Calavano, the man Anthony says is his twin brother, is one digit on their social security numbers.
But when detectives dug deeper, they discovered Joseph's number actually belongs to a New Jersey woman.
It seems Anthony and Joseph have more than a lot in common than a simple social security number. Officials with the Lee County Sheriff's Office Forensics Department checked the fingerprints of both men. They told NBC2 they're actually the same person.
Friday night, Anthony was out of jail on bond and we were able to speak to him over the phone.
When NBC2's Kate Eckman asked him if he was simply posing as two different people, he said that his attorney handles matters like that.
A few hours later, he called back to the NBC2 newsroom and said he would do the interview on the condition that we paid him for it.
We were able to ask him if we could talk to his so-called twin brother Joseph. He said that we could not and that he did not know his brother's phone number.
Police reports say Anthony Calavano turned himself in to police on grand theft charges.
Officers are accusing him of trying to take advantage of a divorce by taking out a loan in his ex-wife Ermalinda's name.
The arrest report says back in June, Ermalinda Calavano told police a home equity loan for nearly $100,000 had been taken out against her home without her knowledge.
Ermalinda told police she never signed the documents for the loan. Calavano later admitted he was the one who signed her name and said he did it right in front of a bank representative.
That Wachovia Bank loan coordinator told Cape police she did in fact notarize Ermalinda's signature without speaking to her or positively identifying her.
Wachovia Bank fraud investigators provided police with records from Anthony's account. About $21,000 had been drawn from the loan and placed into an account that only Anthony holds.
But Anthony says the bank made a mistake and the woman who processed the loan has been fired.
Aside from grand theft, Calavano could also face several other charges including forgery, criminal use of personal identification information, and applying for and obtaining a Florida driver's license number under the name of Joseph Calavano.
