Document mill for bogus IDs found in Norfolk

By Tim McGlone
The Virginian-Pilot
© January 27, 2010

NORFOLK

Authorities say they have uncovered another so-called document mill that was producing hundreds of bogus identifications, Social Security cards and green cards enabling illegal immigrants to live and work here.

Three suspects charged with operating the ring appeared in U.S. District Court on Tuesday afternoon. A magistrate judge ordered them detained pending grand jury action.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents used confidential informants to infiltrate the ring and record conversations implicating the suspects in the production and sale of the phony documents, according to a court affidavit filed by an ICE agent.

One suspect worked out of a house on Galveston Boulevard near Wards Corner in Norfolk.

The three suspects each admitted to federal agents to producing and selling phony work and identification documents, generally for $150 per set, according to the affidavit filed by ICE special agent Kevin Hogancamp.

A search of computers and storage drives indicated that hundreds of documents had been produced and sold, the affidavit says.

The suspects - Patrocinio Castro-Quijano, Gerardo Ortega-Cortes and Onofre Dela Cruz-Vite - acknowledged to authorities that each is in the country illegally, the affidavit says.

Mike Netherland, special agent in charge of the Norfolk ICE office, said these kinds of phony documents are essential for illegal immigrants to move freely in the community. The documents are generally authentic looking, making them difficult for law enforcement and employers to realize they are fake.

The primary concern, he added, is national security.

"Anytime you have individuals producing documents that would be of interest to ICE," he said, "obviously it is something of a concern with us."

Last year, ICE agents arrested several other document producers, a lso using undercover informants.

Ricardo Reyes-Garcia and his partner, Carlomagno Garcia-Diaz, pleaded guilty to charges related to the sale of phony immigration documents. They also operated out of Norfolk, along Little Creek Road, as well as in the South Boston area of Virginia.

Another man was arrested and convicted of producing phony documents on the Peninsula.

In the current case, an informant acting as a broker recorded a sale of phony documents at a Norfolk home involving Dela Cruz-Vite, according to Hogancamp's affidavit. When the buyer got into a vehicle with four others and drove off, the agents stopped them and took all five into custody. They were all determined to be here illegally and will be deported.

That led to the purchase of more documents by the informant in January.

Last Wednesday, the agents raided a house at an unidentified location in Norfolk and arrested the three suspects. One of the agents who had gone around back saw a Christmas stocking fly out a window. Inside, the agent found a computer thumb drive that contained 75 to 100 images of phony green cards, Social Security cards and driver's licenses, with a different image on each.

Computer equipment found inside the house was set up to produce untold numbers of phony documents. One suspect admitted to the agents to selling 35 to 40 of sets of counterfeit documents, the affidavit says.

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