Thread: Fraud bust nets 12 in Ft. Pierce

Fraud bust nets 12 in Fort Pierce
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By WILL GREENLEE
will.greenlee@scripps.com
June 7, 2007
FORT PIERCE — A request from one state agency to another to help find a wanted person uncovered more than 100 people allegedly using a single Social Security number and netted at least 12 arrests locally Tuesday, according to arrest reports and a state official.
Several additional arrests came in Orlando, West Palm Beach and other locations, and Maj. Jeff Korte of the Division of Insurance Fraud anticipated more arrests.


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The charge — a felony — is presenting a false Social Security number/card, and the 12 arrested locally all worked for a business identified as Bates Plants. Many admitted being in the country illegally and buying Social Security cards for up to $800 in Fort Pierce or West Palm Beach, though the amount typically was less than $100.
Korte said his investigators more or less stumbled onto the case after the state Department of Environmental Protection asked for help in tracking down someone with a warrant.

"We ran the Social Security number on that subject, and that subject through the State of Florida Department of Revenue unemployment tax database," Korte said. "When we ran the Social Security number ... it came back that that number was assigned to 115 different people statewide from Miami to Jacksonville."

He said employers were reporting unemployment tax on the wages for that number to 115 different people.

Korte said the most recent database update came a few months ago, and investigators narrowed the list of people to be targeted to about 40 they were relatively sure they could find.

"We noticed in all the different quarters that some would drop off the list. Some would come; they'd disappear; you wouldn't see them again," he said.

Korte said he didn't think there would be many more arrests in St. Lucie County.

In at least one case, investigators discovered other people using different Social Security numbers.

"We start running checks on some of the other employees that are there when we get there to make the arrest; we're finding out those numbers don't belong to them either, and they're different numbers," Korte said. "What we're finding ... is that there's a place in St. Lucie County that for $60 you can buy one.

"They give you a Social Security number and a card with your name on it," he said.

Investigators took statements from Christina Bates of Bates Plants, who indicated most of the workers were hired in October.

Arrested locally were Gilber Rojas, Jose Luis, Adrian Bravo, Esther Delgado, Maria Garcia, Rosa Guillen-Domingquez, Rudy Lopez-Carillo, Eduardo Mancilla-Perez, Juan Roblero, Rocio Velasquez, Delia Sanchez-Cordobo, and Fernando Velazquez. No further information was available.


http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/local_news/ar ... %2C00.html

26 arrested in ID card scheme based on theft of girl's Social Security number

By Sally Apgar
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted June 8 2007

West Palm Beach · A wide-ranging investigation into the sale of fake Social Security cards to undocumented workers started when state Department of Environmental Protection officers examined a company that allegedly was stealing aquatic plants from state-owned land and selling them.

Investigators found that one of the employees had been able gain employment using a counterfeit card with stolen Social Security numbers.

Teaming up with the Department of Financial Services, DEP officers subsequently found 115 undocumented people across the state using cards with a Social Security number stolen from a 10-year-old Florida girl. They bought the cards for $30 to $300 a piece.

Florida's Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink announced Thursday that 26 people have been arrested since Monday for using phony cards to get jobs. Of those, four were arrested at their jobs in Palm Beach County and five were arrested in Broward. One was arrested in Seminole and 16 were arrested at Bates Plants, a Fort Pierce nursery and landscaping business.

"These individuals stole the identities of other citizens to gain employment," said Sink. "We want employers to know that this isn't just about filling job positions. Identity theft is a huge and costly problem. Employers shouldn't turn a blind eye because this poses a very real and serious threat to the public."

Florida ranks fifth in the nation for the highest rate of ID theft. A Social Security card can also be used to open a bank account, obtain a driver's license or credit card and other uses.

The 26 face charges that include using a false ID to gain employment or workers' compensation, which is a state felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

Sink said investigators hope that workers will help them find the "ring" responsible for stealing the numbers and fabricating the cards. Sink said they have yet to learn the source of the real numbers.

Lt. Vance Akins, who works for the fraud division of Financial Services, said the investigation and arrests were hampered because people used fictitious names and multiple stolen Social Security numbers. In addition, many of the workers are transient and leave the county or country before they can be traced.

Akins said that the Social Security Administration notifies employers when multiple people are using the same Social Security number. In one case the team investigated, one worker submitted three different stolen numbers to the same employer.

"Employers are committing a crime when they hire someone they know has a false Social Security card," said Akins.

Sink urged employers to "take extra steps" including background checks.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/cu ... r-helpteam