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Six men arrested were in U.S. illegally

Wednesday, November 22, 2006 1:24 PM EST
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By Amanda Casciaro

Marietta Daily Journal Staff Writer

MARIETTA - Cobb police have arrested six Hispanic men for manufacturing identification documents at Twelve Oaks Apartments on Austell Road in an undercover sting that authorities expect will lead to more arrests.

Because the investigation is ongoing and additional arrests are pending, police did not release information about the Oct. 25 arrests until Tuesday.

Agents from the Marietta-Cobb-Smyrna Organized Crime and Intelligence Unit executed a search warrant for an apartment at 8 p.m. Oct. 25 and walked in on a "large operation," Cobb Police Department spokesman Officer Wayne Delk said.


Officers seized about 1,300 photographs, 217 completed identification cards, various card printers, computers, scanners, laminators and other items used to manufacture fraudulent documents, Delk said.

All of the men arrested were found to have been in the country illegally.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have issued holds on the suspects, each of whom are being held at the Cobb County Jail.

Mario Jesus Zacarias, 40, of Marietta; Enrique Uriostegui, 34, of Chamblee; Allen Carmona, 21, of Smyrna; Enrique Martinez, 34; and Juan Castillo, 35, were arrested Oct. 25. Two days later, officers arrested 27-year-old Manuel Ortiz.

Each of the men, three of whom did not provide residences, are being held on $50,000 bonds in addition to ICE holds, according to information the Cobb County Sheriff's Department provided.

"They are not going anywhere with the ICE holds on them," Delk said.

The seized equipment was used to make various state identification cards and driver's licenses, resident alien cards, permanent resident cards, Social Security cards and various foreign driver's licenses, Delk said.


The manufacture of false documents and benefits such as marriages is a widespread illegal business, said Marc Raimondi, a Washington, D.C.-based spokesman for ICE.

Although Raimondi would not comment specifically on the case in Cobb, "I can tell you ICE and Homeland Security are very committed to (interrupting) document fraud and benefits.

"We recently stood up 11 task forces around the nation, including one in Atlanta, designed specifically to go after organizations producing illegal documents or benefits fraud."

Someone using false documents or false pretenses for benefits, including securing public services or legal status from marriages, characterizes benefits fraud, he said.

ICE and Homeland Security officials are working "closely" with county, state and federal partners to "target these illicit enterprises," Raimondi said.

No other information about the suspects was available Tuesday.

acasciaro@mdjonline.com