Antonio Pastini was killed when the twin-engine plane broke up shortly after takeoff and fell in pieces in Yorba Linda, igniting a fire in a home where four people died on Sunday. The cause of the crash has not been determined.
Pastini, 75, was initially identified as a retired officer but Chicago police said there were no records of him working for the department.
The credentials found at the crash site included false retirement papers and a police badge bearing the same number as a badge reported lost in 1978, Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in an email to The Associated Press.
Orange County sheriff’s spokeswoman Carrie Braun said the credentials were not legitimate but the pilot was indeed Pastini. The victims inside the home have yet to be publicly identified.
Pastini’s daughter, Julia Ackley, said her father’s birth name was Jordan Isaacson, but she didn’t say why he changed it. She wouldn’t address the police credentials.
"I’d prefer not to comment, and let the investigators do their job," Ackley told KABC-TV. "My father is exactly who he said he was."