12 people arrested for passport fraud in SoCal

By The Associated Press
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 at 8:47 p.m.

LOS ANGELES — Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles say a dozen people charged with passport application fraud have been arrested as part of a federal crackdown.

A Mexican citizen living in Whittier, 40-year-old Alma Huerta, was arrested Tuesday at the U.S.-Mexico border. She was indicted by a federal jury last month on charges of using a false identity to get a passport in 2000.

The U.S. attorney's office says 20 defendants have been charged with making false statements to get passports. Eight of them are still fugitives.

The Diplomatic Security Service's office in Los Angeles recently saw a 30 percent increase in passport fraud cases from 2007 to 2008 and stepped up enforcement.

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