Thread: MO. Identity ring highlights growing threat to national security, say federal agents

Missouri identity ring highlights growing threat to national security, say federal agents

2012-01-13 09:35 AM
By: Mark Rockwell

St. Joseph, MO

The indictment of 15 people in Missouri in a crack-down on a black market fake identity document ring highlights a growing threat to national security, said federal agents involved in the case.

Fourteen people were indicted on Jan. 12 for participating in a $5 million conspiracy to provide more than 3,500 fraudulent identity documents to illegal aliens across the U.S. The indictment included six members of a St. Joseph, MO, family and three Guatemalan nationals in Carthage, MO. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations and other investigators allege the scheme used the Missouri Department of Revenue license office in St. Joseph, MO, to generate fraudulent documents sold by the ring.

"The individuals involved in this conspiracy orchestrated an extensive identity fraud scheme on a grand scale," said Gary Hartwig, special agent in charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations office in Chicago. "Identity and document fraud is a burgeoning problem in the United States that poses a direct threat to national security and public safety. These charges reflect ICE HSI's ongoing commitment to investigate this type of criminal activity and those who assume other people's identities to skirt the law."

"St. Joseph was the hub of a criminal conspiracy for thousands of illegal aliens who traveled to Missouri from across the country," said U.S. Attorney Beth Phillips, Western District of Missouri. "Conspirators operated a vast black market where identities were bought and sold. It's crucial for business and public safety that we maintain the integrity of government-issued IDs. Those who profited from this illegal scheme will be held accountable."

"Troopers from the Missouri State Highway Patrol and investigators from the Missouri Department of Revenue were part of this state-federal-local investigation of conspirators who allegedly assisted illegal immigrants attempting to obtain identity documents fraudulently," Missouri Department of Public Safety Director Jerry Lee said. "Today, that law enforcement partnership resulted in arrests in Missouri and Texas. The success of this investigation would not have been possible without outstanding cooperation between state, federal and local law enforcement agencies. I commend the troopers from the Highway Patrol, investigators from the Department of Revenue and the local and federal officers that have taken part in this investigation."

The federal indictment alleges that all 14 defendants participated in the conspiracy that began in November 2009 to transport illegal aliens, to unlawfully produce identification documents, to unlawfully transfer another person's identification and to commit Social Security fraud.

The conspirators allegedly provided illegal aliens with birth certificates and Social Security cards in the names of others and with Missouri residential addresses. The indictment alleges that illegal aliens traveled to St. Joseph from across the U.S. to get either a Missouri driver's license or non-driver's license by using unlawfully-obtained birth certificates and Social Security cards. The state licenses were then used by the illegal aliens to remain in the U.S. illegally, to get jobs and for other unlawful purposes.

The indictment estimated that more than 3,500 licenses were issued to illegal alien customers by the Department of Revenue license office in St. Joseph. Each customer paid $1,500 to $1,600 to obtain documents and a license, the indictment said, totaling more than $5.25 million in gross proceeds.

According to the indictment, the document ring’s members actively recruited illegal alien customers for the fake documents and directed them to travel to St. Joseph to pick them up. Sometimes they even provided customers with transportation to St. Joseph, ferrying some from as far away as North Carolina and Texas to Missouri, according to the indictment.

The St. Joseph defendants allegedly accompanied customers into the local license office masquerading as translators to help them get a state license in the name of another person. They also allegedly helped with memorizing information on the birth certificates and Social Security cards, the indictment says, and to practice signing the name so that the signatures would be similar. They also helped prepare customers for potential questions from the license office employees, according to the indictment.

In addition to the conspiracy, the federal indictment charges various defendants in five counts of transporting illegal aliens, eight counts of unlawfully producing identification documents, nine counts of unlawfully transferring another person's identification, eight counts of Social Security fraud, and nine counts of aggravated identity theft. The indictment also contains a forfeiture allegation, which would require the defendants to forfeit to the government any property obtained from the proceeds of the alleged offenses, including a money judgment of $5.25 million.

Missouri identity ring highlights growing threat to national security, say federal agents | Government Security News

Thousands of illegal immigrants obtained Missouri driver’s licenses
By TONY RIZZO
The Kansas City Star
By TONY RIZZO The Kansas City Star
Updated: 2012-01-12T02:47:56Z


Thousands of illegal immigrants living across the United States used fraudulent paperwork to obtain Missouri driver’s licenses in St. Joseph, federal authorities said Wednesday.

A federal grand jury in Kansas City indicted 14 defendants, including six members of a St. Joseph family, for participation in the conspiracy, which allegedly allowed more than 3,500 illegal immigrants to obtain Missouri driver’s licenses and other state identification documents.
Prosecutors allege that defendants made more than $5.2 million in fees charged to illegal immigrants since November 2009, when the defendants allegedly started the conspiracy.

“Those who profited from this illegal scheme will be held accountable,” Beth Phillips, U.S. attorney for western Missouri, said in a written statement.

Authorities intend to track down and deport those who obtained the fraudulent licenses or documents. They plan to consider criminal charges against each on a case-by-case basis.

The 40-count indictment, filed under seal Tuesday, was made public Wednesday after authorities arrested 13 of the 14 alleged conspirators.
The St. Joseph residents charged were Deborah J. Flores, 46; her sister, Sherri E. Gutierrez, 45; and Flores’ children, Stephen Eugene Vanvacter, 24; Sara M. Gonzalez, 20; Christina Michelle Gonzalez, 23; and Jessica Mercedes Gonzalez, 21.

Flores and Vanvacter own a used car business in St. Joseph, A to Z Auto Credit, according to federal prosecutors.

Also charged were three residents of Carthage, Mo.: Elder Enrique Ordonez-Chanas, 30; Nelson Dariseo Bautista-Orozco, 26; and Ranfe Adaias Hernandez-Flores, 22. Other defendants lived in Chicago, Texas and North Carolina.

According to the indictment, customers of the scheme were recruited from around the country. Each customer paid $1,500 to $1,600 and received a birth certificate and Social Security number in the names of other people. Those documents typically came from conspirators in Texas who bought them from people willing to sell their documents, according to the allegations.

Those documents, along with Missouri residential addresses provided by the defendants, were used to obtain driver’s licenses or other state identification cards from the Missouri Department of Revenue license office in St. Joseph.

The St. Joseph-based defendants accompanied the illegal immigrants to the license office, often posing as translators, to help them with the process, according to the indictment.

The immigrants were coached on how to answer questions from license office employees and were instructed to memorize information on the Social Security and birth certificate documents. They were also told to practice writing signatures to match those on the documents, according to the allegations.

Charges filed include conspiracy, transporting illegal aliens, unlawfully producing identification documents, unlawfully transferring another person’s identification, Social Security fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Federal prosecutors said the indictment does not allege wrongdoing against any fee office worker.

Multiple local, state and federal law enforcement agencies participated in the investigation. Officials did not say how it began.

“The individuals involved in this conspiracy orchestrated an extensive identity fraud scheme on a grand scale,” Gary Hartwig, head of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations office in Chicago, said in a written statement.
Identity and document fraud poses a threat to public safety and national security, Hartwig said, calling it a “burgeoning problem” in the United States.

While the defendants in the Missouri case were being rounded up Wednesday, officials in Washington announced charges against 50 people in a similar but unrelated identity fraud case centered in Puerto Rico.

Like the Missouri case, that conspiracy allegedly was nationwide in scope and involved the sale of Social Security cards and birth certificates by suppliers in Puerto Rico to brokers in 15 states, including Nebraska.

Read more here:
Kansas City Star

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