Thread: AZ-DPS: Undocumented immigrant busted in fake ID operation

DPS: Undocumented immigrant busted in fake ID operation
Reported by: Rudabeh Shahbazi
Email: RShahbazi@abc15.com

Last Update: 7/30 11:44 pm

Slideshow The suspect was in the process of delivering a fraudulent Arizona drivers license that he had just manufactured (Department of Public Safety) Click the play button on the video window to the see the story

PHOENIX -- Authorities say they have arrested an undocumented immigrant and shut down a fake ID manufacturing operation.

The Arizona Fraudulent Identification Task force is a team made up of Arizona Department of Public Safety detectives and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. They executed a search warrant around 4 p.m. at a home near 15th and Highland streets in central Phoenix. They had been investigating the operation for seven months.

Officers say a man inside the residence was in the process of delivering a fraudulent Arizona drivers license that he had just manufactured.

A woman, who asked not to give her name, said the operation hits too close to home. Not only are her neighbors accused of profiting off other people's IDs, she was an identity theft victim herself.

"It's scary, because these people need to be brought down," she said. "It's ridiculous. It's costing me $3,500 just to get my credit back on track for something that somebody else did."

The neighbor said there was a lot of traffic at the alleged manufacturing house, and was disturbed to hear that her friendly neighbors were running the same type of operation that victimized her.

"I ended up losing my home, losing my job, and I went down to collect unemployment," she said. "I couldn't collect unemployment, because I found out that I had had 11 jobs in the last year, which I had not. Then they found out that somebody had been using my identity since 2005."

Detectives say they seized high dollar computers/printers along with card stock, lists of stolen names to be used for fraudulent documents, $1,200 and a CD that was an instruction template for making ID cards in other states.

Authorities say 28-year-old Jacinto Huepalcalco-Meneses was arrested on charges of manufacturing fraudulent documents, identification theft and operating an illegal enterprise.

They say they believe Huepalcalco-Meneses has a criminal history. They say he is in the country illegally and had been deported once before.

The task force is still looking for two other suspects they say are also undocumented immigrants and who were working with Huepalcalco-Meneses.

"There's a lot of activity, but we didn't know what was going on," said Vera D'Angelo, another neighbor. "We just thought maybe they were dealing drugs."

Agents say fake ID rings are a "huge" and growing problem in the Phoenix area. They said they have busted about a dozen of the operations since they formed the force two years ago.

"It's everywhere," said D'Angelo's husband, Albert. "I hear this all the time, that it hits home. Now it hits us. It's very surprising to see that it's in our backyard now."


http://www.abc15.com/content/news/phoen ... Kjn0g.cspx

The Arizona Fraudulent Identification Task force is a team made up of Arizona Department of Public Safety detectives and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. They executed a search warrant around 4 p.m. at a home near 15th and Highland streets in central Phoenix. They had been investigating the operation for seven months.

SEVEN MONTHS CONGRESS!

This kind of sh!t is going on nationwide!