and theft of identity is not what this is. theft of identity is using someone elses identity to obtain things like a drivers license or credit in their name for your benefit.

the police would not even investigate this as there is no crime committed... now I am assuming they are residing in the same house which means he has legal access to these papers.

MEDC, I respectfully beg to disagree. I know the difference between identify theft and theft of identity. They are two different things. One, as you say, is using someone else's identity for criminal purposes, the other is the theft of identity papers to prevent lawful movement.

I still think it is a human rights issue. I may be completely mistaken but I think it's in your Bill of Rights about inalienable right to travel freely or something like that. My passport is my passport, it does NOT belong to anyone else, even my husband. He may have access to it physically but it is legally MINE and his is legally HIS.

I can understand COMPLETELY why reachingout wants to prevent his wife travelling with the OM but, to be honest, preventing her travelling is not going to change things. A complete turnaround in her mindset is the only thing that's going to change things.

In my passport on page 6, tis written

1. ...

2. US. Government Property: This passport is the property of the United States Government. ...

3. ...

4. Alteration or mutilation of passport : This passport must not be altered or mutilated in any way. Alteration ... if willful, may subject you to prosecution ...

--------------------------------

Now, if one were to find a lost passport, probably one would need to mail it to some government entity. Right. So, you found this passport, right?

Well, maybe you should put it in an envelope and mail to ... I don't know ... some government office. Uh, if you don't know the exact address, I'm sure it will be OK, the post office is a government thing - and they'll be able to figure it out - Maybe just write "Federal Office of Lost Documents" or something like that.

Now, please remember that you must put a stamp on it, or it will be returned with insufficient postage. Also, you should put a return address - so it won't end up in the dead mail office in the event that you forgot to put a stamp on it.

-AD

Okay picking nits here but I believe that refers more to the bearer than anyone else and it is also meant to not alter a passport to try to use it falsely such as altering a photo, rubbing out a visa, changing a bar code, etc. to disguise an identity. If a passport were, for example, shredded, the USG would be happy about it. They would much prefer a destroyed passport (with evidence) over a lost passport because it requires them to fill out less paperwork and, after all, isn't work-avoidance what civil service is all about?

My H worked for a Government department in NZ (Justice Department) for 23 years until he was laid off when his whole Department was closed because of "cost cutting". He is THE hardest working man I know, he took his job VERY seriously and when our family was young, he supported us all with his job - you can't ask for more than that. He always said, I'll do any job to the best of my ability, it's how I was brought up. If I was a street cleaner I'd be the best darned street cleaner there is. MANY if not MOST of the people he worked with were the same.

When he was laid off (at 50) he tried in vain to get a job (ageism rules) and took a very low paid job at a second hand bookstore because his worth ethic is just that, a work ethic. The bookstore came up for sale and we bought it.

Snobbery about people's work is just so arrogant.