Thread: 50 individuals charged with trafficking identities of Puerto Rican U.S. citizens

ICE Takes Down Mega Fake I.D. Ring in Puerto Rico

Published January 12, 2012
Fox News Latino

ICE Takes Down Mega Fake I.D. Ring in Puerto Rico | Fox News Latino

Even the BBC is covering this one.

11 January 2012 Last updated at 19:38 ET

Fifty held for selling US documents to illegal migrants

US authorities believe the conspiracy has been in operation since at least April 2009

Fifty people have been held over one of the largest fraud cases investigated by US immigration officials, involving alleged Puerto Rican identity theft.

The accused conspired to sell the identities of thousands of Puerto Ricans to illegal immigrants, US authorities say.

Legal documents were allegedly sold for as much as $2,500 (£1,631) per person.

Hundreds of birth certificates, Social Security numbers and driver's licences were bought since 2009, officials say.

A tip-off from police in the US state of Illinois prompted an almost two-year long undercover operation known as Island Express.

The 50 suspects have each been charged with conspiracy to commit identification fraud, which carries a sentence of up to 15 years in prison.

Clothing-measures code

A suspected network of people in several US states are said to have sold legal documents originating in the US island territory of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean as part of the alleged black-market ring.

Puerto Rican documents were especially coveted because they are legitimate US documents with Hispanic names - and many illegal immigrants to the US are originally from Latin American countries.

"The vast majority were legitimate documents obtained by fraudulent or false means,'' said Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton.

"We have gone after everyone involved in the chain: the leaders, the suppliers, the brokers, the runners.''

The alleged conspiracy was kept hidden through a sophisticated code system.

Go-betweens would make coded phone calls asking for skirts for female customers and pants for male customers in specific sizes which referred to the age and type of identity requested, the ICE alleges.

It is alleged that the suppliers even offered to exchange the documents if customers were not satisfied.

In 2010, thousands of Puerto Ricans were reported to have been subject to identity fraud and in July of that year the government began annulling old birth certificates and issuing new ones with added security features in order to address the problem.

It is not known how much money the gang made from the operation.

BBC News - Fifty held for selling US documents to illegal migrants

I remember hearing about these cases sometime back and I feel for the victims of identity theft. Puerto Ricans are a very easy target and non-Puerto Rican Hispanics are also victims of identity theft.

RELATED

New Puerto Rico Birth Certificates on July 1, 2010 and the Impact on Form I-9

April 22, 2010

http://www.alipac.us/f12/new-puerto-...t-i-9s-186013/

RELATED

Illegal Immigration and Fraudulent Documents

http://www.alipac.us/f12/illegal-imm...uments-248076/

RELATED

http://www.alipac.us/f12/woman-indic...5/#post1250321

I.C.E. News Release

DOCUMENT AND BENEFIT FRAUD

12/03/2014

46th defendant sentenced to more than 6 years in federal prison for trafficking identities of Puerto Rican US citizens

WASHINGTON — A leader of a Puerto Rican identity trafficking organization was sentenced Wednesday to serve six years and nine months in prison.

This sentence was announced by the following agency heads: Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Rosa E. Rodríguez-Vélez of the District of Puerto Rico; Acting Director Thomas S. Winkowski of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); Chief Postal Inspector Guy J. Cottrell of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS); Director Bill A. Miller of the U.S. State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS); and Chief Richard Weber of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI).

Enrique Rogelio Mendez-Solis, aka Rogelio Quero-Mendez, aka Roberto Marquez-Prada, 40, a Mexican national formerly of Seymour, Indiana, was sentenced Dec. 3 to 81 months in prison for his leading role in trafficking the identities and corresponding identity documents of Puerto Rican U.S. citizens. U.S. District Judge Juan M. Pérez-Giménez in the District of Puerto Rico also ordered the defendant to serve three years of supervised release and to forfeit $422,793 in illegal proceeds.

On Dec. 3, 2013, Mendez-Solis pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit identification fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit human smuggling for financial gain, and three counts of aggravated identity theft. Because Mendez-Solis is living illegally in the United States, the government will seek his deportation after he completes his prison sentence.

According to court documents, individuals located in the Savarona area of Caguas, Puerto Rico, obtained Puerto Rican identities and corresponding identity documents. Other conspirators located in various cities throughout the United States solicited customers and sold Social Security cards and corresponding Puerto Rico birth certificates for prices ranging from $700 to $2,500 per set.

The identity brokers in the United States ordered the identity documents from the document suppliers in Savarona, on behalf of their customers, by making coded telephone calls. The conspirators were charged with using text messages, money transfer services and express, priority or regular U.S. mail to complete their illicit transactions.

The court documents indicate that some of the conspirators assumed a Puerto Rican identity themselves and used that identity in connection with the trafficking operation. Their customers generally obtained the identity documents to assume the identity of Puerto Rican U.S. citizens and to obtain additional identification documents, such as legitimate state driver’s licenses. Some customers obtained the documents to commit financial fraud and attempted to obtain a U.S. passport. According to court documents, the organization trafficked at least 1,500 identities.

Various identity brokers were operating in Rockford, DeKalb and Aurora, Illinois; Seymour, Columbus and Indianapolis, Indiana; Hartford, Connecticut; Clewiston, Florida; Lilburn and Norcross, Georgia; Salisbury, Maryland; Columbus and Fairfield, Ohio; Dorchester, Lawrence, Salem and Worcester, Massachusetts; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Nebraska City, Nebraska; Elizabeth, New Jersey; Burlington and Hickory, North Carolina; Hazelton and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Houston, Texas; Abingdon and Albertville, Alabama; and Providence, Rhode Island.

To date, 53 individuals have been charged for their roles in the identity trafficking scheme. All 49 arrested defendants have pleaded guilty and 46 defendants have been sentenced, including:

• Jorge Luis “Daniel” Mendez, 38, a Dominican national formerly of Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, sentenced to 75 months in prison April 28, 2014, followed by three years of supervised release;
• Daniel Aparicio-Lara, 30, a Mexican national formerly of Burlington, North Carolina, sentenced to 65 months in prison Dec. 18, 2012, followed by three years of supervised release;
• Rafael Joaquin Beltre-Beltre, 36, a Dominican national formerly of Caguas, Puerto Rico, sentenced to 63 months in prison Sept. 4, 2012, followed by deportation;
• Wilfredo Blanco-Diaz, 41, a Dominican national formerly of Caguas, Puerto Rico, sentenced to 61 months in prison March 11, 2014, followed by deportation;
• Jose Sergio Garcia-Ramirez, 39, a Mexican national formerly of Rockford, Illinois, sentenced to 54 months in prison Nov. 26, 2012, followed by deportation;
• Moises Lara-Ceballos, 37, a Mexican national formerly of Seymour, Indiana, sentenced to 54 months in prison Jan. 21, 2014, followed by deportation; and
• Wilson Antonio Hernandez-Fernandez, 40, a Dominican national formerly of Caguas, Puerto Rico, sentenced to 48 months in prison Feb. 4, 2014, followed by three years of supervised release.

These charges resulted from Operation Island Express, a nationally coordinated investigation led by HSI Chicago and USPIS, DSS and IRS-CI offices in Chicago, in coordination with HSI San Juan and the DSS Resident Office in Puerto Rico. The following agencies provided substantial assistance: Illinois Secretary of State Police; Elgin (Illinois) Police Department; Seymour (Indiana) Police Department; and Indiana State Police. The following agencies also provided invaluable support: HSI Attaché Dominican Republic and International Organized Crime Intelligence and Operations Center (IOC-2), and various ICE, USPIS, DSS and IRS-CI offices around the country.

This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys James S. Yoon, Hope S. Olds, Courtney B. Schaefer and Christina Giffin of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section, with the assistance of the Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, and the support of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico. The following U.S. Attorney’s offices also provided substantial assistance: Northern District of Illinois, Southern District of Indiana, District of Connecticut, District of Massachusetts, District of Nebraska, Middle District of North Carolina, Southern District of Ohio, Middle District of Pennsylvania, District of Rhode Island, Southern District of Texas and Western District of Virginia.

Potential victims and the public may obtain information about the case at the following website: United States v. Rafael Joaquin Beltre Beltre, et. al. Court Docket Number: Crim. No. 11-589 (GAG) (Operation Island Express). Anyone who believes their identity may have been compromised in relation to this investigation may contact the ICE toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2ICE (1-866-347-2423) or its online tip form. Anyone who may have information about particular crimes in this case should report them to the ICE tip line or the website.

Anyone who believes that they have been a victim of identity theft, or wants information about preventing identity theft, may obtain helpful information and complaint forms on various government websites including the Federal Trade Commission ID Theft website. Additional resources regarding identity theft can be found at the following websites:

• Office of Justice Programs, Office for Victims of Crime - Identity Theft and Financial Fraud
• Social Security Administration - Identity Theft And Your Social Security Number
• Federal Bureau of Investigations - Identity Theft
• Internal Revenue Service - Identity Protection

https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/46...ntities-puerto