SHORT TAKES : Murphy Accuser Past Surfaces

NEW YORK —  A Montclair, N.J., man who has accused comedian Eddie Murphy of stealing his screenplay for the movie “Harlem Nights,” has a criminal record for theft, fraud and drug possession.

But Hafiz Farid, 37, an aide to a Newark, N.J., city councilman, says he is an “example of reformation.” He told the Newark Star-Ledger that “the man you refer to does not exist. I have risen above my past to emerge as an example to young people. My life is an open book.” The newspaper found that Farid, who changed his name from Darryl Anderson, was convicted in 1972 and 1973 of drug offenses.

In May, 1979, he was sentenced to four years in prison for masterminding a scheme that netted seven defendants thousands of dollars in student loans and grants. New Jersey state police records also show 1977 convictions for credit card theft and receiving stolen property. Farid has filed suit against Murphy, claiming he gave the comedian a manuscript in 1986 that was later used as a rough draft of “Harlem Nights.”