Alaska resident found to be victim of stolen identity, innocent of crime

SHERIDAN — Alaska resident Tim Zalinger fell victim to a stolen identity case that began in April 2023, involved an arrest made in Sheridan County and wasn’t resolved until November of last year.

Zalinger said that in 2023 his driver’s license expired, prompting him to order a new one through the Department of Motor Vehicles online. Zalinger submitted an order for a new license, but it never came in the mail. Zalinger contacted the DMV in search for his new license that was supposed to arrive by mail and was told it was sent and should have arrived.

The DMV decided to send another new license through the mail after the first one failed to arrive, Zalinger said. Later in the summer of 2023, Zalinger received information from a friend who told him his license had been suspended, he said.

“I got word through a friend of mine that my license had been suspended in Montana, and I called on it, and it was for a failure to appear in court in Stillwater County in Montana outside of Billings, and I obviously wasn’t there,” Zalinger said.

After digging deeper into the information, Zalinger found some of his personal information had been leaked during a traffic accident on the interstate in Montana. However, the individual involved in the accident was not Zalinger and was later identified as Levi Hart.

“He was driving a truck, pulling a camper, and he got into an accident on the interstate, and they just gave him a (court) summons and let him go. So I called the judge, and I had to appear via Zoom in front of a judge, and get it squared away,” Zalinger said. “I was like, this obviously isn’t me, but they didn’t have the guy (in custody), and they didn’t know his name or anything else about him, because he had some fake information about me and my name.”

In November 2024, Zalinger ran into more issues.

Zalinger’s girlfriend confronted him after finding a news story from a Sheridan news source stating he had a warrant for his arrest due to a failure to appear in court for a stolen vehicle case, he said.

Zalinger learned Levi Hart had been in an accident Jan. 20, 2024 and two days later (on Jan. 22) stole a vehicle from Bozeman, Montana.

Hart was pulled over in Sheridan three days later on Jan. 25, 2024. However, there was no record of a stolen vehicle yet, so he was free to go.

Two days later, on Jan. 27, Hart was pulled over again in Sheridan after a stolen vehicle report was made for the van and was arrested, Zalinger said.

“So he gets put in jail. His mother in Kansas…she posted a $10,000 bond for him, signed a piece of paper with my name on it and forged a document to get him out of jail,” Zalinger said.

According to an order to quash the warrant document, Zalinger was able to get his name cleared and the charges dropped against him on Nov. 24, 2024.

“Charges against me, and my name have been dropped, and the one who really put it (the case) together was a U.S. Marshal,” he said.

The Sheridan Police Department was responsible for arresting Hart on Jan. 24, 2024, SPD Cpt. Tom Ringley said. Hart was arrested for possession of a stolen vehicle and possession of a controlled substance.

“He (Hart) is absolutely a different person than Mr. Zalinger,” Ringley said.

Ringley added Zalinger is not a suspect of any crime in Sheridan and his name has been cleared.

Zalinger was included in The Sheridan Press’ Jan. 29, 2024 incident reports, and has been removed from those reports following confirmation of his innocence by authorities.

This story was published on February 4, 2025.