Thread: ILLEGAL Alaska officer accused of ID theft pleads guilty

Alaska officer accused of ID theft pleads guilty

Associated Press | Posted: Wednesday, June 1, 2011 4:20 pm

A former Anchorage police officer accused of living in the country illegally under a stolen identity for more than two decades pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal charges.

Rafael Mora-Lopez, who was born in Mexico and has lived in Alaska for years as Rafael Alberto Espinoza, appeared in federal court in Anchorage, where he pleaded guilty to passport fraud and false claim of U.S. citizenship.

He faces up to 13 years in prison at his Aug. 25 sentencing hearing.

Mora-Lopez has declined to comment. His attorney, Allen Dayan, did not immediately respond to a phone call seeking comment Wednesday.

According to court documents filed in May, Mora-Lopez's wife, Margarita Cynthia Espinoza, was a neighbor of the real Rafael Alberto Espinoza in Guadalajara, Mexico, in the 1980s. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Bradley said Rafael Espinoza is a U.S. citizen who was born in Santa Monica, Calif., and now lives in Mexico, working as an attorney.

It's unclear if Mora-Lopez and Rafael Espinoza knew each other. Rafael Espinoza could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.

Mora-Lopez, 47, has lived in Anchorage since the late 1980s. He worked as a city bus driver for six years and then as a well-regarded police officer for six years, until his arrest in April. He said in court Wednesday that he graduated from college as a chemical engineer, but he did not elaborate.

Mora-Lopez initially pleaded not guilty to passport fraud and has been out on bail under home confinement and electronic monitoring. Those conditions were kept in place Wednesday, after Bradley told U.S. District Judge Timothy Burgess that he was satisfied with them.

"We believe, in working with Mr. Dayan and other authorities in this case, that (Mora-Lopez) is not a flight risk, that he is not a danger to the community, that he would be a fool to fail to appear, and that he's very aware of the consequences of failure to appear," Bradley said.

According to court documents, Mora-Lopez used Rafael Espinoza's Social Security number, name and date of birth to apply for an Alaska driver's license in June 1989. He presented a birth certificate and Social Security card as evidence of his identity, the records said.

Over the years, Mora-Lopez received more than $27,000 in dividends issued to Alaska residents out of investment profits from the Alaska Permanent Fund _ the state's oil-wealth savings account _ and repeatedly used the assumed identity to vote in local and national elections, according to the documents.

The state is considering whether to file charges in connection to the payouts, according to Assistant Attorney General John Novak.

Court records say Mora-Lopez used the false identity and citizenship to bring his future wife to Alaska and help her obtain naturalization as a U.S. citizen "based on her marriage to him as a citizen." Authorities have said the couple has a child. No charges have been filed against Margarita Cynthia Espinoza.

Authorities discovered Mora-Lopez's true identity after he applied for a passport renewal and the State Department noted someone else appeared to have a passport under the same identity, according to court documents.

Police and federal authorities said neither Mora-Lopez nor Rafael Espinoza had any known criminal record, so a pre-employment background check on Mora-Lopez found nothing. He also passed a polygraph test.

The case leaves the Anchorage Police Department facing various complications, such as potential challenges to Mora-Lopez's pension earned under the false identity and his testimony in past criminal trials.

The case is similar to one involving a Mexican national who took the identity of a dead cousin who was a U.S. citizen to become a Milwaukee police officer. The man was deported to Mexico in 2007.

Mora-Lopez's arrest came two months after another Anchorage police officer, Anthony Rollins, was convicted of sexually assaulting women while on duty.

http://www.nctimes.com/news/national/ar ... d6f92.html

He should have also been charged with Illegal alien in Possession of a Firearm!

Originally Posted by ICEstorm

He should have also been charged with Illegal alien in Possession of a Firearm!

Since he pleaded guilty, I'm assuming there was a plea deal. That deal could have included dropping some potential charges.

He didn't plead guilty at first. From what I read, that was not part of the initial charges against him.

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ILLEGAL ALIEN Alaska officer accused of passport, ID fraud

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