Details Emerge In Alleged ID Fraud; Albuquerque Notary Arrested in Heroin Bust Linked to Documents

Albuquerque Journal
May 13, 2011
By Dan Boyd
SANTA FE, NM

More information came to light Thursday about the documentation obtained by illegal immigrants and other foreign nationals linked to an Albuquerque notary arrested earlier this month in connection with a heroin trafficking ring and previously investigated for fraud.

Five of the six illegal immigrants arrested in Albuquerque for heroin trafficking don't show up in state records as possessing New Mexico driver's licenses, state officials said Thursday.

However, the sixth man arrested as part of that ring, Roberto Arellano, had two different state-issued licenses - including one that featured a Social Security number that wasn't his.

Both licenses were issued before enactment of New Mexico's law allowing issuance of state driver's licenses to illegal immigrants in 2003.

Arellano initially got a license that used a Social Security number that didn't belong to him, according to the state Taxation and Revenue Department.

In 2002, he obtained a second New Mexico license by using a Social Security number that was issued to him, department officials said.

It was unclear Thursday how Arellano obtained the Social Security number and Taxation and Revenue officials said they will forward his file to the state Department of Public Safety for further investigation.

All six men arrested in the May 3 heroin bust in Albuquerque were in custody Thursday at the Metropolitan Detention Center and have immigration holds on them, jail spokeswoman Nataura Powdrell said.

Meanwhile, state officials said that 29 New Mexico driver's licenses fraudulently obtained by foreign nationals with the help of the Albuquerque notary, Ana Hernandez, who also was arrested May 3rd in connection with the heroin ring, were suspended.

The suspensions came after investigators became aware that each license application listed the same address on Central Avenue in Albuquerque as a residence.

State officials could not say whether the 29 foreign nationals were in the U.S. illegally at the time they got help from the notary.

However, none of the 29 individuals had a U.S. Social Security number, which is typically issued to foreign nationals in the country on a work or student visa.

Hernandez, will face state and federal charges for the fraud she allegedly perpetrated. She could not be reached for comment earlier this week.

Gov. Susana Martinez has used the Hernandez case to highlight grave concern over a possible link between drug trafficking and the highly controversial state law allowing issuance of driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.

Martinez, a Republican and a former district attorney, has criticized current and former Democratic state officials for failing to turn over evidence regarding Hernandez to law enforcement agencies.

Despite an unsuccessful push during this year's legislative session to overturn the driver's license law, she told the Journal this week that she was more convinced than ever that it is a "dangerous policy" for New Mexico to issue licenses to illegal immigrants.

Rick Homans, the former secretary of the Taxation and Revenue Department, and overseer of the Motor Vehicle Division, under then-Gov. Bill Richardson, defended his department's efforts before Martinez took office this year.

Homans said it was standard procedure under his tenure for cases of suspected fraud on foreign national driver's license applications to be turned over to State Police for further investigation.

Though he couldn't say for sure whether that policy was followed in the Hernandez case, Homans said he assumed it was.

"I would be very surprised if our tax fraud division did not forward this information to State Police as was our policy," he said.

Homans wrote a letter on June 14, 2010, that outlined the evidence gathered by an internal investigation into Hernandez's actions.

He left the post several weeks later to become the director of Spaceport Authority.

In addition to using an old business address as a residential address to help the 29 foreign nationals obtain driver's licenses, Hernandez also used three aliases to sign birth certificates she translated from Spanish into English, according to the investigation.

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