Citizenship coordinator arrested for theft, unauthorized practice of law

Milpitas Post Staff
Posted: 01/02/2009 03:20:02 PM PST

Jose Mario Campos, a 66-year-old San Jose resident, was arrested last week on four counts of grand theft, one count of theft from an elder, and one count of unauthorized practice of law.

Jose Mario Campos worked as a citizenship coordinator for Sacred Heart Community Services of San Jose, a charitable organization. His job at Sacred Heart, a non-profit organization, was to assist clients in filling out citizenship and immigration documents, free of charge. It is against Sacred Heart's policy to collect monies from their clients for any purpose, including fees charged by Citizenship and Immigration Services.

It is alleged that, against Sacred Heart's policy, Campos fraudulently collected thousands of dollars in application fees and donations from Spanish speaking clients who were attempting to become U.S. citizens.

He pocketed clients' monies and failed to file their immigration forms or pay any of the fees charged by federal immigration agencies or U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. He told some of them that he was a lawyer, while he told others that he would obtain a lawyer for them.

When clients questioned Campos about the status of their applications, he would mislead them by assuring them that their matters were in progress or that new forms were necessary, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office.

If convicted, Campos faces up to six years in state prison. He was scheduled for arraignment yesterday. Those who
believe they were victimized by Campos can contact Gary Medlin of the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office at 792-2917.

http://www.themilpitaspost.com/news/ci_11357266