Thread: Identity thief, illegal immigrant, businessman & $1 mill

(Someone could write a book about this guy)

Identity thief, illegal immigrant, businessman - a double life


Miguel Angel Ortiz


By TIM MCGLONE, The Virginian-Pilot
© September 6, 2007

After fleeing poverty in his native Uruguay, Miguel Angel Ortiz settled in Hampton Roads and established himself as an expert welder. He formed his own business and obtained shipyard contracts worth more than $1 million.

Married with three children, the youngest about 10 months old, he had been living in a stately waterfront home in Virginia Beach. Two full-size bronze lions were perched out front near a four-tier fountain. He drove a Hummer and had a spare in the driveway.

Ortiz built this life using someone else’s identity and after racking up an extensive arrest record in this country.

His case raises new questions about how an illegal immigrant who served jail time had not only remained in the country undetected but built a corporation and amassed wealth.

Through interviews and court records, including Ortiz’s confession, The Virginian-Pilot uncovered the life of a man who exploited loopholes in the immigration system and skirted detection – until this year.

Ortiz was arrested in April after he applied to have his passport renewed under the name Alfredo Rivera Jr. The State Department began investigating after determining that the picture on the passport did not match the picture of Rivera in the agency’s files. Ortiz’s life has since unraveled.

After pleading guilty in May to identity theft charges, Ortiz was sentenced Aug. 20 in Norfolk’s U.S. District Court to 27 months in prison. Upon release, he will be processed for deportation.

Ortiz, 41, first arrived in the United States from Uruguay in 1987. He left and returned, illegally, in 1992.

To remain in the country, Ortiz bought a birth certificate and Social Security card in 1996 for $8,000 in New York, according to court records. Ortiz assumed the identity of Alfredo Rivera Jr., the name on the documents. At the time, the real Rivera was living in New York. It’s unclear from the records whether the two men know each other or whether Rivera ever found out his identity was stolen. He could not be located.

Ortiz obtained a passport in Rivera’s name and moved to Virginia Beach, where he began dating Gloria Hill, who comes from a family of Ford plant workers.

His first brush with the law came in 1998 when Virginia Beach police arrested him on a car-theft charge. The case eventually was dropped. A check of his fingerprints never revealed his true identity.

Ortiz and Hill moved to Florida, where they married in 1999. Ortiz listed his true identity on the marriage license, but he never used the marriage to try and get U.S. citizenship.

But there were troubles in the marriage. Ortiz was arrested three times on domestic violence and child abuse charges. In a 2000 case, he was accused of trying to kick his pregnant wife and threatening to kill her. The case was later dropped, but he was arrested again the following year on charges of beating his 5-month-old daughter. He was convicted of that charge, but it is unclear from court records whether he served time.

In 2002, his wife called police again to report that her husband had punched, choked and scratched her. Ortiz fled the scene and led police on a chase. On arrest reports, sheriff’s deputies noted that Ortiz had a distinctive tattoo on his chest that read, “Property of God.â€

To remain in the country, Ortiz bought a birth certificate and Social Security card in 1996 for $8,000 in New York, according to court records.

But one of the first lines in this story is that he fleed poverty? How can he afford and $8,000 ID? Dirty Money?

Dixie

Well, it's official that FAIR supports biometric ID.

W