5 hours ago

CEDAR RAPIDS | An illegal alien living in Hampton who assumed the identity of a U.S. citizen was sentenced Tuesday to more than four years in federal prison.

Abel Hernandez-Labra, 44, illegally obtained a U.,S. passport and voted in the 2012 presidential election. He pleaded guilty in November 2014 to one count of making false statements in a passport application, one count of aggravated identity theft, one count of making a false claim of U.S. citizenship to register to vote and one count of harboring an illegal alien.

In a plea agreement, Hernandez-Labra admitted he was a Mexican citizen who illegally entered the United States. He purchased a birth certificate and Social Security number of an American citizen born in Puerto Rico and assumed that identity. Falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen, he used those documents to obtain Iowa driver's licenses which he in turn used to apply for and fraudulently obtain a U.S. passport in 2008 and to unlawfully register and vote in the 2012 federal election.

Hernandez-Labra also admitted harboring and encouraging an illegal alien to reside unlawfully in the Untied States by providing a job and home and by not reporting the illegal individual to immigration authorities.

He was sentenced to 51 months in prison and fined $5,000. There is no parole in the federal prison system. Hernandez-Labra must also serve also serve a three-year term of supervised release.

He is in the custody of the United States Marshal until he can be transported to a federal prison.

-- Peggy Senzarino

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