Amadeus Harlan, aka Johnny Harlan, a Denver Bronco impersonator, was convicted Thursday of Identity Theft and Aggravated Motor Vehicle Theft in Jefferson County. After four days of trial the jury deliberated less than an hour before returning their guilty verdicts.

Harlan, a 40 year-old con man with 11 prior felony convictions for homicide, theft, motor vehicle theft and criminal impersonation, has routinely pretended to be a professional football player to gain the trust of individuals that he later victimizes by using their financial information to obtain high-end vehicles and loans. 
 
In September 2007, he purchased a Nissan Maxima from Empire Lakewood Nissan in the name of a woman that he claimed was his girlfriend. Harlan obtained her financial information when he encouraged her to apply for a job with a business he was starting related to sports tournaments. He told her that he was a former Denver Bronco and bragged about the business. The woman provided her social security number and date of birth to Harlan on the job application and gave him a copy of her drivers’ license. 

Handwriting experts reviewed the loan application and sales contract from the Nissan dealership and confirmed that it was Harlan that signed her name to the documents. The woman discovered the identity theft in December, 2007, when she was contacted by the bank for failing to make a payment on the vehicle. Upon pulling her credit report she learned that Harlan had purchased the $40,000 Nissan and a $50,000 Chevy Avalanche on her credit. The employees at the Nissan dealership remembered the transaction and Harlan because he had bragged about playing for the Denver Broncos and told them that his wife could not learn about the car he was buying for his girlfriend. 

In 2003, Harlan was convicted of similar crimes in Arapahoe and Broomfield counties when a man discovered that a Mercedes, a Cadillac Escalade and a Ford Mustang had been purchased; and two signature loans had been obtained in his name, by Harlan and an accomplice.

The victim had provided Harlan his drivers’ license and social security number when filling out a credit application to purchase a truck at a dealership where Harlan was employed. The victim did not complete the purchase and Harlan kept his information and was able to access his credit. 

Harlan was convicted of felony theft in Denver last week for writing phony payroll checks to employees of his bogus business “Harlan21.com." The evidence at trial was that approximately $90,000 worth of bad checks had been written on his account that had never had a single deposit.  
 
Harlan has also been charged as an Habitual Criminal. If convicted, he will be sentenced to 48 years in prison in the Jefferson County case and 24 years prison in the  Denver County case. Sentencing in Jefferson County is set for February 26, 2010.