Published: September 18, 2009 09:55 pm      

Accused Manchin impersonator gains nationwide notoriety

The story of a Hinton man State Police say impersonated Gov. Joe Manchin has gained nationwide notoriety. However, authorities still say they cannot determine whether Matthew Don Reed was trying to steal personal information from others.

“I don’t know what his intention was to do with that information,” Sgt. T.L. Bragg said.

A Chicago man gave Reed personal information, but Reed is not believed to have used it, Bragg said. The man’s accounts have fraud protection, and no withdrawals have been flagged. Reed wrote the man a $40,000 check for his services. The man found out it was worthless when he tried to deposit it.

Bragg noted multiple agencies’ work is by no means over. Police found “tons and tons” of mail in a search of Reed’s residence. The U.S. Postal Service has launched an investigation.

Bragg said he was amazed at the amount of coverage the story had received. He noted Reed did not seem to realize the magnitude of his actions until he encountered police.

“I don’t think he figured the magnitude of this until I explained it to him,” Bragg said. “I said, ‘You know, you were throwing the governor’s name around.’”

Reed only told police his actions were “stupid.”

Reed, 32, was arrested Monday and charged with impersonating a public official (to wit: Manchin), impersonating a state DNR officer and forgery of a public document. Reed remained in Southern Regional Jail Friday on $10,000 bond.

After the story about Reed’s alleged crimes appeared in The Register-Herald Thursday, it spread across state and national news wires. The story was also featured on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” Thursday night.

Bragg said documents related to the case date back to March 31.

Apparently, Reed met multiple people on the Internet and told them he was a state Division of Natural Resources law enforcement officer, Bragg said. He hired a Chicago man, whom he also met online, to send target letters to people interested in DNR employment.

“Prospective employees” were instructed to come to the rural Esquire Cemetery Road in Hinton, Bragg said. People were told to bring job applications, along with their birth certificates, Social Security numbers and some other form of identification.

Later, the same Chicago man received another letter Reed wanted sent out, Bragg said. Manchin was its purported author.

Besides the letter not having the governor’s seal, its wording and spelling had some serious red flags. One section of it read (sic): “It’s nice to have you as an employee of West Virginia. Your super (boss) Matt talk a lot of thangs about you. I hope you stay with us a long time. If you got ? please ask Matt.”

“If something came from the governor’s office, well, No. 1, you would think it would have the state seal,” Bragg said. “You’d also think it would be composed and spelled correctly and with the correct punctuation.”

The letter concluded with Manchin’s forged signature above his name, Bragg said. Reed later told police he wrote the fake Manchin letter to make his activities “look more official.”

The Chicago man checked with the DNR office in Charleston to see if Reed worked there, Bragg said. A real DNR officer launched an investigation and obtained related documents from the Chicago man. State Police were notified when investigators found out Reed had allegedly involved the governor.

Officers executed a search warrant at Reed’s home Sept. 11, Bragg said. There, they found documents that backed up the Chicago man’s story.

Bragg noted Reed could also be behind similar activity involving State Police. During the search of his home, officers found state trooper job applications with other people’s information on them.

— E-mail: apridemore@register-herald.com