Did Jesus' earthly father die early or no?

Mike Halcomb over on his blog Pisteuomen presents a very intriguing possibility that Jesus' earthly father did not die early but was in fact Joseph of Arimathea.

I personally have never heard this before - have you? what do you think of it?

Mike summarizes A.J. Fejfar noting that Joseph and Jesus, as "tektons" were apparently charged by the people of Nazareth with "penury" (hording wealth?) and so Joseph changed his name and location.

Questions:
If this were the case would not the folks of Nazareth known still who Joseph was and that Mary was his wife and Jesus his son? Or would changing his identity have him presumed dead to the folks in Nazareth and no one would realize he was the same person as before? Or was Arimathea far enough away from Nazareth to remain unknown?

I am curious too as to any possible implications for Catholic theology and their argument of perpetual virginity of Mary? (maybe their is no connection?).

My "Jesus books"

The following are books I have that in one way or another focus on the person and work Jesus Christ:

Jurgen Moltmann's The Way of Jesus Christ: Christology in Messianic Dimensions (Augsburg Fortress Publishers; 1st Fortress Press ed edition, 1993).

Donald G. Bloesch's Jesus Christ: Savior and Lord (Christian Foundations Series) (IVP: 1997).

Richard Bauckham's Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony, (Eerdmans, 2006). This is more about the Gospels, but still about Jesus.

John Stott's The Cross of Christ (IVP, 1986).

__________. The Incomparable Christ, (IVP, 2004).

Luke Timothy Johnson's The Real Jesus: The Misguided Quest for the Historical Jesus and the Truth of the Traditional Gospels, (HarperOne, 1997).

______________________. Living Jesus: Learning the Heart of the Gospel, (HarperOne, 2000).

Michael Green's Who is this Jesus? (Oliver Nelson, 1992). (I have an older edition).

Philip Yancey's The Jesus I Never Knew (Zondervan, 1995).

So, as you can see, my list is not extensive and rather conservative (with the exception of Moltmann).

Correction: Johnson isn't really a conservative or too overly liberal - but sure does slam the Jesus Seminar and hits a home run with Living Jesus!