You've Got The Wrong Guy- It Was My Twin Brother

[VXIII]

Identical twins share a lot of things -- a birth date, a womb, the same looks -- but they're each entitled to their own rap sheet.

Mitch Torbett, of Signal Mountain, Tenn., spent two days behind bars trying to convince the police they really were looking for his twin brother, Mike.

Torbett was arrested last week for a federal crime his identical twin brother is accused of in Louisiana before dying two years ago.

"If they would've trusted me, if they would've given me the benefit of the doubt, if they would've done that, none of this would've happened," Mitch Torbett told WRCB-TV in Chattanooga, Tenn.

The double trouble started when Torbett applied for a construction permit in Signal Mountain and, after running his driver's license, officials discovered a federal warrant for his arrest.

Although Torbett told police the federal warrant had to be linked to Michael, his now-deceased identical twin, officials arrested him and turned over the case to the FBI.

The Hamilton County Sheriff's Office told WRCB that the warrant was under Mitch's name. However, the affidavit shows "Mike Torbett," Mitch's twin and under the arrestee's name it says, "unknown -- do not change."

"I saw his name and I realized that I was in trouble, big trouble," Torbett said, adding that even though he was booked, he refused to sign any paperwork because it had his brother's name on it.

"I turned into my identical twin, deceased brother," Torbett said.

A source at the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office told WRCB that Mike must have given Mitch's name when he was arrested, saying, "that happens with twins all the time."

It was only when Mitch went before a judge and the FBI presented fingerprints from both brothers that officials finally believed that he wasn't all double talk.

"[The agent] said, 'Your honor, we have the wrong person. He needs to be released immediately'," Torbett said.

Now Torbett is working with an attorney to file a civil suit against the Signal Mountain Police Department and the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office, according to WTAM-TV.

Twin researcher Dr. Nancy Segal said the relationship between twins is so unique that they sometimes do unusual things to each other.

"Do you recall the Korean twins in which one tried to have the other killed to assume her identity since she was wanted for credit card fraud? They remained friends," Segal told The Huffington Post. "My point is that what appears extraordinary to others may not seem that way to twins. Mitch was probably hurt by this, but deep down he may have understood and forgiven his brother."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...ref=weird-news Video and pictures at link.

[Mommyof2]

This story reminds me of the twins I know. They are so identical even after knowing them for 10 years I sometimes have to stop and think about which one I am talking to. The one twin is your average person, married, has two kids, and works at a crafts store. The other twin is a wild party girl who prostitutes herself down in the slums. The bad twin recently got in some trouble in the city she lives in. She gave her sisters name and was issued a ticket. The good sister had to go to court for this crap and drive across state to be there. The worst part it's her burden to prove it was her twin and not her. Weird thing is she is not totally pissed at her sister. They are still as close like nothing even happened. I don't know about you all but I'd be pissed if somebody did that to me.

[Aena]

I married an identical twin, they were so identical the only way they could be told apart was the hat they wore. My now ex-husband's brother was a drunk who got into a lot of trouble, never did assume my husband's name though. He died a few years ago because he was drunk, tripped with a gun in his hand and shot himself in the face, although there are some weird circumstances surrounding that incident. Think I posted about it awhile back, the family had an independent autopsy done and his death was ruled accidental instead of suicide or something like that. Still had some weird coincidences around his death though, like people seeing other people at his house around the time he died, even though everyone that lived with him swore they were somewhere else, just strange stuff.

Back when we were all young and dumb we used to joke around about calling one of those talk shows like Jerry Springer and make up a big lie about how I didn't know which one was the father of my kids, since they have the same DNA, all for a free trip LOL we never did it but I still laugh when I think about how dumb we were back then.