Story Archive

Attempted Normality

In 2009, when he was 21, Joseph Thomas Hawkinson choked his girlfriend into unconsciousness, court documents say. He was convicted and went to prison, but in 2013 he was paroled. After cutting his hand laying carpet, he went on painkillers and broke parole to avoid a drug test, he said. “I was going to disappear and most likely kill myself.” Instead, he began a new life, with a new name — Wes Scoggins — and a new job, where he rose to be the owner’s assistant. But when investigators heard he was using that name, they found him on Facebook, and his appearance matched. Hawkins was arrested and, in Minnesota’s Dakota County District Court, charged with two felonies plus one misdemeanor — stealing the real Wesley Scoggins’ identity. The real Scoggins is not on Facebook. “I don’t do social media,” he said. “It gets people in trouble.” (AC/St. Paul Pioneer-Press) ...BRB, looking up Mayor Madeleine on Facebook.