Tennessee Man Arrested After Being Mistaken for Dead Twin Brother

This should never happen.

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Complex Original

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Having a twin can be awesome, especially when it comes to playing tricks on others, but you can get caught up if your twin is a criminal. Mitch Torbett spent almost two days in jail for a crime that his now-deceased brother Mike allegedly committed. The trouble started after Mitch sought a construction permit in Signal Mountain, Tenn., but local officials instead discovered what they thought was a warrant for his arrest.

Mitch says that after they ran his driver’s license, he was informed that he might have an outstanding federal warrant. He was arrested by Signal Mountain police, who failed to realize that Mike was the wanted man, not Mitch. Mike Torbett died two years ago.

Mitch was detained for 36 hours before the FBI magically appeared, planning to extradite him to Louisiana for the crime. However, as he stood before a judge, then FBI provided fingerprints from both Mitch and Mike Torbett. Authorities say that Mike may have given his brother’s name when arrested, but the name “Mike Torbett” appears on a court affidavit.

Torbett is in the process of filing a civil suit against the Signal Mountain Police Department and Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, but nothing can right the wrong of being wrongly jailed and mistaken for your dead brother.

[via Yahoo News]

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