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Illegal Alien Sentenced for Identity Theft of Army Sergeant, Reports U.S. Attorney

BOSTON, Mass., April 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An illegal alien from
the Dominican Republic was sentenced today in federal court for Identity
Theft in connection with the theft of an Army Sergeant's identity.
United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan; James P. Ennis, Special
Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of State; Peter C. Emerzian, Special
Agent in Charge of the U.S. Housing and Urban Development's Office of
Inspector General; and Leo J. Sullivan, Inspector General of the U.S.
Social Security Administration's Office of Inspector General, announced
that ELSA ONDINA HERRERA-MARTINEZ, 32, of East Boston, Massachusetts, was
sentenced by U.S. District Judge Patti B. Saris to 2 years in prison, to be
followed by 3 years of supervised release. Additionally, Judge Saris
ordered HERRERA-MARTINEZ to pay restitution to HUD in the amount of
$15,651.
On January 5, 2007, a jury convicted HERRERA-MARTINEZ of one count of
Aggravated Identity Theft, one count of Theft of Government Funds and one
count of Use of Another's Social Security Number. HERRERA-MARTINEZ has been
in custody while awaiting sentencing.
Evidence presented during the three-day trial proved that in 2001,
HERRERA-MARTINEZ assumed the identity of another woman, who is a Sergeant
in the United States Army, without that woman's permission or
authorization. That year, HERRERA-MARTINEZ obtained replacement Social
Security cards using the victim's name and Social Security Number.
Additionally, using that information and by producing other identification
cards with the victim's biographical information on it, as well as other
identifying documents of the victim, HERRERA-MARTINEZ, who claimed she was
a United States citizen, sought and received federally subsidized housing
in Roslindale, for a fourteen-month period from April 2005 -- May, 2006.
HERRERA-MARTINEZ also faces deportation to her native Dominican
Republic upon completion of her prison term.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of State, the U.S.
Housing and Urban Development's Office of the Inspector General and the
Social Security Administration's Office of Inspector General. The case was
prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Suzanne Sullivan in Sullivan's Major
Crimes Unit.


SOURCE U.S. Attorney