Colorado’s criminal impersonation statute, CRS § 18-5-113, makes it a crime to knowingly assume a false identity or legal capacity to gain a benefit or cause harm. Depending on what was done while impersonating someone, the charge can be a felony or a misdemeanor. [ATTORNEY TO VERIFY: confirm current statute language and penalty tiers.]
What counts as criminal impersonation in Colorado?
A person commits criminal impersonation by knowingly assuming a false or fictitious identity or legal capacity, and in that assumed identity, doing an act meant to gain a benefit for themselves or another, or to injure or defraud another person. Examples range from impersonating a public official to using someone else’s identity to obtain money or property. [ATTORNEY TO VERIFY]
Is criminal impersonation a felony or misdemeanor?
It depends on the specific conduct. Impersonating a public servant or using an assumed identity to perform a notarial act or similar official function is typically charged as a class 6 felony. Other forms of impersonation can be charged as a class 1 or class 2 misdemeanor. [ATTORNEY TO VERIFY: exact current penalty ranges for each tier.]
How does criminal impersonation differ from identity theft?
Criminal impersonation focuses on assuming a false identity to perform an act, while identity theft under Colorado law specifically involves using another person’s identifying information to obtain cash, credit, goods, or services. The two charges sometimes overlap in the same case, but they protect against different conduct. [ATTORNEY TO VERIFY]
What are common examples that lead to impersonation charges?
Common scenarios include pretending to be a law enforcement officer or government employee, using someone else’s name to sign a legal document, or falsely acting as bail or surety for someone in a court proceeding. The specific act matters significantly in how severely the charge is pursued.
What case law controls how Colorado courts interpret this statute?
The controlling Colorado Supreme Court decision is Alvarado v. People, 132 P.3d 1205 (Colo. 2006), which holds that the “performing an act with intent” form of criminal impersonation is a single offense requiring proof of two separate culpable mental states (knowingly assuming the false identity, and intent to gain a benefit or defraud) — but rejected the argument that the statute requires a separate act of impersonation apart from the act done for the improper purpose. Confirmed directly against the official 2025 COLJI-Crim Chapter 5-1 annotations.
Separately, a 2011 statutory amendment (now codified at CRS § 18-5-113(3)) clarified that using someone else’s false or fictitious personal identifying information — a name, date of birth, Social Security number, or ID/license number — by itself counts as “assuming a false identity.” That amendment effectively overruled an earlier Colorado Supreme Court decision, Montes-Rodriguez v. People, 241 P.3d 924 (Colo. 2010), which had held that providing a false Social Security number on a car loan application did not meet the statute’s identity-assumption requirement. [ATTORNEY TO VERIFY: both citations confirmed against official 2025 COLJI-Crim Chapter 5-1 annotations.]
Can a criminal impersonation charge be defended successfully?
Defenses often focus on disputing intent to gain a benefit or cause harm, challenging whether the identity assumed was genuinely false or fictitious, and examining whether the alleged “act” meets the statute’s requirements. No outcome can be promised in any individual case; results depend entirely on the specific facts and evidence involved.
Talk to a Denver criminal defense attorney
Criminal impersonation charges can carry felony-level consequences depending on the conduct alleged. Contact Mile High Legal for a consultation to discuss your situation.
