Thread: Four charged with creating false documents

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Four charged with creating false documents

By Leslie Berestein
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
November 16, 2005

Four men were arraigned yesterday in Superior Court on charges of manufacturing, distributing and selling false documents of the kind routinely used by undocumented immigrants to obtain work.

The men were arrested last week after federal agents followed up on a tip that false Social Security cards and legal permanent resident cards were being sold in Oceanside.

Those arrested were Fausto Chavez Rueda, 38, José Concepción Torres Murillo, 35, Alfredo Torres Murillo, 29, and Juan Manuel Vera Equihua, 24.

Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement used a warrant to search an apartment complex on Highland Avenue in City Heights, where two of the men were believed to have lived.

According to ICE, a computer was discovered inside the closet of the unit where Vera was found. Next to it were production supplies that included card stock, laminating material and the holograms used for California driver licenses.

"It's believed that they were making multiple counterfeit documents, including counterfeit Social Security cards and immigration-related documents," said Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for ICE in San Diego.

Inside the closet, investigators found a hinged trap door that had been cut through the drywall, linking it with the unit thought to be Chavez's residence.

Mack said that she did not know where the two other men lived but that they are brothers and that Alfredo Torres Murillo was employed at an Italian restaurant in the Carlsbad area. He was found to be in the country illegally, as were his brother and Vera. All are Mexican nationals.

Chavez, also a native of Mexico, is a legal permanent resident who has been in deportation proceedings stemming from a previous offense and is appealing his deportation.

Federal agents have dismantled at least five fraudulent document mills in the San Diego area this year.

Federal immigration laws governing the workplace dictate that job applicants present identification showing they are authorized to work in the United States. However, employers are not required to verify its authenticity.

Employers may sign up for a government database that allows them to verify Social Security and other documents presented by workers, but participation is voluntary.

Yesterday, bail was set at $35,000 for each of the men, who entered please of not guilty. All are on an immigration detention hold and cannot be released. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Nov. 30.

The service referred to is DHS Basic Pilot