7:36 PM, May. 23, 2012
Clarke Morrison
Citizen-Times

ASHEVILLE — Three men who produced and sold counterfeit Social Security cards and other fake identification documents in Buncombe and Henderson counties have been sentenced to federal prison.

Angel Evilio Alvarado-Gonzalez, Salimon Ramos and Herbert Alexander Guevara-Alvarado were snared in an undercover operation, according to court records.

Creating fake IDs can put the public in danger, said Brock Nicholas, an investigator with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“Anyone who knowingly and indiscriminately sells fraudulent identity cards is putting the security of our communities and even our country at risk, as counterfeit documents can potentially be used by dangerous criminals and others who are attempting to obscure their identities and cover their tracks,” he said.

Alvarado-Gonzalez, 32, of Honduras, and Ramos, 34, of Mexico, were each sentenced in U.S. District Court in Asheville to 30 months in prison. Guevara-Alvarado, 32, of El Salvador, was sentenced to 13 months time served.

The three defendants, who lived in the Asheville area before their arrests in March 2011, are undocumented immigrants who were ordered by the court to be deported upon completion of their sentences, court records state.

At Ramos’ sentencing last week, defense attorney Jack Stewart urged Judge Martin Reidinger to sentence him to time served. Stewart said Ramos wasn’t the ringleader of the counterfeiting scheme and would be deported and wouldn’t return.

Reidinger declined.

“It was a crime of helping people thwart the law,” the judge said. “It’s a serious crime.”

According to court documents, Alvarado-Gonzalez told investigators that Ramos produced about 80 sets of fake identification documents at a residence on Rock Hill Circle in Asheville using a computer, scanner, printer and other materials.

“Counterfeit identification documents compromise the integrity of our nation’s legal immigration system,” said U.S. Attorney Anne Tompkins. Authorities will “do whatever is necessary to safeguard the integrity of identification documents and go after those who operate in the fake document market.”

The defendants pleaded guilty to production of false identity documents and production of counterfeit Social Security cards. In addition, Ramos and Alvarado-Gonzalez pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft.

According to court records, in October 2010 Henderson County deputies received a tip that Alvarado-Gonzalez was making and selling fake identification documents in Buncombe and Henderson counties.

In an undercover operation three months later, a detective made arrangements to pay the suspect $165 for a fraudulent Social Security card, a Mexican driver’s license and a permanent resident alien card.

The documents produced by Alvarado-Gonzalez incorporated a photo of the detective and false information provided by the investigators. Authorities confirmed that the Social Security number that was used belonged to someone else.

Undercover officials also bought fake identification documents from Guevara-Alvarado, according to a criminal complaint.

Alvarado-Gonzalez, who lived in a mobile home park off Airport Road, also showed a false identification during a vehicle stop by Asheville police on Sweeten Creek Road in January 2011, court records state.

Men sentenced to prison for selling fake IDs in Asheville area | The Asheville Citizen-Times | citizen-times.com