A Texas Native Receives An Incomplete Birth Certificate

Imagine getting an official birth certificate in the mail without a name on it. If it got into the wrong hands, it would be easy to get a drivers license or even worse, pose as a U.S. citizen. After fighting for 13 years to obtain a copy of his official birth certificate, Charles Lee Landry is fed up. "This won`t go away, it`s like a nightmare," Landry said. It all started when Landry filed for disability in 1993 and contacted the Texas Bureau of Vital Statistics for his birth certificate. "I didn`t exist," Landry said,"there was no such person, they had no record of me." The mistakes don`t stop there. The Social Security office later discovered his birthdate was recorded in their system as 1943 instead of 1944. In order to change it, they would need a copy of his official birth certificate; a document he could only get from the State of Texas Vital Statistics Unit. "4 different times I wrote, they kept my money everytime," Landry said. Last spring, however, he got a package in the mail. "They sent this birth certificate to me with no name on it, it was blank," Landry said. Vital Statistics sent him a birth certificate without a name on it. Sources tell KTAL that the blank space could mean his parents did not name him before leaving the hospital. However, a hospital issued certificate shows otherwise. Landry wrote his name in and tried to correct the document, but, he hates to think what could have happened if the blank certificate had gotten into the wrong hands. "I could probably get $1000 on the street for it," Landry said. Without a name on it, the birth certificate is worthless to Landry and Social Security. Though he has submitted document after document, the Texas Bureau of Vital Statistics has yet to issue him a correct birth certificate and now, he fears the mistake will come back to haunt him. "Social Security could stop my disability insurance at any time, that`s my health, my medicine, the money it takes to exist," Landry said. We contacted the Texas Bureau of Vital Statistics and officials say they are looking into the matter. Of course, the KTAL Troubleshooters will pursue this situation until it is resolved.