Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Adrian Antonio Alvarado-Gomez, 42, was arrested yesterday for driving without a valid license and on fraud charges related to possession of a driver’s license in the name of a dead man, which he said he was issued at a DMV office in Miami. A deputy also noted that Alvarado-Gomez’s picture had been added to the dead man’s record in the state driver’s license database.

At about 7:19 p.m. on August 22, an Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputy pulled over a vehicle with a temporary tag on NE Waldo Road for following a semi too closely and changing lanes across a double white line within 100 feet of an intersection.

The driver reportedly provided a name and date of birth, along with a driver’s license with the same information. When the deputy queried the driver’s license database, he found that the license belonged to a man who had died in May 2021. However, both the photo on the physical driver’s license and in the state database matched Alvarado-Gomez.

The vehicle had also reportedly been registered in the name of the dead man on August 15, 2025. Alvarado-Gomez reportedly said he purchased the vehicle in Miami a few weeks ago.

Alvarado-Gomez reportedly consented to a search of the vehicle, and the search produced three bank cards in names different from either his real name or the name on the driver’s license.

Post Miranda, Alvarado-Gomez reportedly said he paid an individual in Miami to take him to a DMV office, where his picture was taken and he was issued a license in the name of a deceased man; he said he did this to seek employment because he is not a U.S. citizen and is here illegally.

The deputy reported that no driver’s license has ever been issued in Alvarado-Gomez’s real name.

Alvarado-Gomez, whose listed address is in Jacksonville, has been charged with two counts of fraudulent use of the personal identification information of a deceased person, possession of the similitude of a driver’s license, giving false identification information to law enforcement, unlawful possession of the personal identification information of another person, and driving without a valid license. Judge Gloria Walker set bail at $7,500.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.