Deal Reached In Immigrant ID Case Posted 2008-09-03
By Pete DeLea



HARRISONBURG - A former Cargill employee accused of leading three illegal immigrants to Ohio to obtain fraudulent identification so they could get jobs at the Cargill plant in Dayton pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Harrisonburg.

City resident Edwin Roberto Mendez, 33, who has six aliases, pleaded guilty to one count of felony conspiracy to violate federal immigration laws and one felony count of aggravated identity fraud. A third charge, felony conspiracy to traffic identity documents, was dismissed under a plea agreement with federal prosecutors.

Mendez, who is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 10, faces up to seven years in prison and possible deportation.

Mendez's attorney, Aaron Cook, declined to comment.

Prosecutors say the case is an example of their tough stance on enforcing immigration laws.

"The United States Attorney's Office places a great emphasis on enforcing our nation's immigration laws," Acting U.S. Attorney Julia C. Dudley said in a statement released following the court proceedings. "This office will continue to prosecute those individuals who commit identity fraud in order to evade discovery of their illegal status."

The Evidence

The investigation of Mendez started in September 2007 by U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents.

Mendez, who is originally from El Salvador and is a permanent resident of the United States, moved this country in 1996 and began to purchase Puerto Rican birth certificates and Social Security cards from Luis Toro in 1999, according to court documents. Mendez would then sell those documents to illegal immigrants and take the people to Ohio to get identification cards. Prosecutors say it is easier to use Puerto Rican documents in Ohio to gain state I.D. cards.

On Sept. 24, prosecutors say, Mendez sold a Puerto Rican birth certificate and Social Security card to a confidential informant for $600 and told the informant that he could arrange a trip to obtain an I.D. card at an Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles office.

"During the duration of the undercover operation, Mendez sold multiple Puerto Rican identity documents to the confidential informant, some belonging to children as young as 2-years-old," court documents state.

On Oct. 3, 2007, prosecutors say, Mendez, with co-defendant Jairo Gomez driving the truck, left Harrisonburg to go to Columbus, Ohio. The informant also went on the trip.

The following day, prosecutors say, the informant, Mendez and other passengers in the truck went with Jose Guitierrez-Ramirez to a BMV office in Columbus. At the office, co-defendants Nekia Mack-Fuller and Michele Eckerman - both employees at the motor vehicle office - processed the immigrants' documents and issued them Ohio identification cards.

The investigation led federal agents to raid the Cargill plant in Dayton on March 11.

Other Pleas

On Aug. 5, Christina Dawn Cheatham, 23, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud, which carries a maximum punishment of five years in prison.

On July 28, Cheatham's boyfriend, Gutierrez-Ramirez, 34, also of Columbus but in the country illegally, pleaded guilty to two felony charges: aggravated identification fraud and identity fraud conspiracy.

The government alleges that Cheatham, of Columbus, Ohio, along with Gutierrez-Ramirez, "acted as a facilitator and go-between for illegal document vendors located in other states, persons desiring to assume the identity of another, and co-conspirators employed by the Scarborourgh Boulevard Deputy Registrar's office for the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles," according to court documents.

They are scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 17.

On Tuesday, co-defendants Gomez, Efrain Sanchez Aparicio and Toro pleaded guilty to charges related to the fraudulent I.D. scheme. They are scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 10.

The two remaining defendants, Eckerman and Fuller, are awaiting trial.

Contact Pete DeLea at 574-6278 or pdelea@dnronline.com