Thread: Feds indict Beach siblings over alleged immigration forgery

http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.c ... ran=121482

Feds indict Beach siblings over alleged immigration forgery

By JON FRANK, The Virginian-Pilot
© April 7, 2007

VIRGINIA BEACH - A federal grand jury handed down a 12-count indictment this week against a brother and sister accused of making forged documents for illegal immigrants living and working in southeastern Virginia.
Narciso M. Salas and Maria R. Salas could be sentenced to serve at least four years in federal prison if convicted, according to A ssistant U.S. A ttorney Joe DePadilla, the prosecutor handling the case.
The Salases are accused of selling counterfeit S ocial S ecurity documents and forging documents that allow people to enter and stay in the United States. The federal case comes at a time when the illegal immigration issue in Virginia has attracted national attention.
Virginia Beach police arrested Narciso Salas in March. At the time, they said that hundreds of illegal immigrants had received the documents during the past two years in Virginia Beach and other local cities.
The illegal document business primarily served the region's Mexican community, police said, with customers paying $150 for a Social Security card and another identification card that illegally claimed the person was a permanent resident of the United States.
At times, the documents were ordered after contact with customers was made at El Taco Tote, a Beach taco shop that operates on the weekends in the 900 block of Virginia Beach Blvd., police said.
Business cards listing in Spanish the illegal services were distributed there.
A search warrant filed in Virginia Beach Circuit Court in March said police raided a trailer on L ot 257 of the Colony Mobile Home Park at 913 Virginia Beach Blvd. where the Salases lived.
Beach prosecutors are expected to withdraw state charges later this month so the case can proceed in federal court.
The federal indictment describes a finely honed counterfeit operation that included advertisements and order forms.
According to the indictment, the Salases advertised their services in a Spanish-language newspaper. The order forms filled out by customers would allow the documents to be mailed to customers after they were created.
The indictment alleges that Narciso Salas would require some female customers to pose topless for the identification photographs.
The indictment says that the documents were made at an unnamed facility on the Peninsula.
Reach Jon Frank at (757) 222-5122 or jon.frank@pilotonline.com.

The indictment alleges that Narciso Salas would require some female customers to pose topless for the identification photographs.

What a guy. Not only is he selling fake Social Security cards, but he is also a big pervert.
I don't think 4 years is enough time in prison for this crime.

firecracker wrote:

I don't think 4 years is enough time in prison for this crime.

I know it's not!

I wonder what a person caught doing the same thing in Mexico could expect? Perhaps this will give you the answer:

http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php? ... 0070207001

I think what he committed was treason. And he should be made to serve the appropiate time for doing what he did. I would be even more harsh, but I do belive in justice not "justus".

Virginia Beach is sure getting the press lately.

Yup! That's the perfect vacation destination. Right Mayor?

ILLEGALS here, ILLEGALS there, ILLEGALS everywhere.

ILLEGALS doing the jobs that Americans won't do! Killing people.......raping people........drug running.........destroying neighborhoods and schools.......
just your average, good guys.

Feds accuse 2 of helping illegal immigrants secure documents

11:43 AM EDT on Thursday, April 12, 2007

Associated Press

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) -- A bogus document operation that catered to illegal immigrants advertised its services in Spanish-language newspapers and snapped head shots for the fake documents near a Virginia Beach taco stand, according to a federal indictment.

"This was a well-oiled machine," Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph E. DePadilla said Wednesday at a U.S. District Court hearing. "They had samples and you could pick out what IDs you wanted to get."

DePadilla said the government has "evidence of 246 completed transactions" for various phony identification cards, such as Social Security cards. The operation also produced a permanent residence card and other documents, according to the indictment.

Attorneys who represent illegal immigrants say the documents are critical for gaining employment in the U.S.

Maria R. Salas and her brother, Narciso M. Salas, have been charged in a 12-count federal indictment handed up by a federal grand jury last week. The Salases were initially charged in state court last month after police with a search warrant confiscated computers, a scanner, a camera and about $2,100 from a residence near the Virginia Beach Convention Center.

Maria Salas took ID photos for the fake cards near a Beach taco stand, the indictment alleges.

Cards were completed at an off-site location and mailed to customers. DePadilla said that location has not been identified.

DePadilla said Maria Salas confessed to her role in the operation last month. Her attorney, Harry D. Harmon Jr., declined to comment on the plea agreement.

The state charges were to be withdrawn Thursday so that the felony cases against the Salas can move forward in federal court, DePadilla said.

At Wednesday's hearing, a magistrate denied bond for Maria Salas. He scheduled another hearing for April 25.

http://www.wvec.com/news/local/stories/ ... ff67.html#

From Narciso Salas de 'El Taco Tote':
I'm writing this statement as a rebuttle to the accusations in the media about my conviction. Since no one has ever heard my side of the story, I'll take this opportunity to tell it. From what I've learned, before my arrest, everyone loved me, and afterwards [even before I was convicted], I was instantly pegged as The Most Evil Man In The World. Not even the FBI does that.
I am guilty of Aggravated Identity Theft and Conspiracy. That's ALL. As far as pornography goes, I had taken nude pictures of my girlfriend at that time. When I was in the process of being arrested at my house, the detective vigorously searched my house for evidence, bringing to me each and every item, and writing them down with me. Nothing pertaining to pornography ever surfaced. Then at the jail, after 6 hours of fruitless interrogation, these printed-out pictures mysteriously popped up. These were not mine, and I told him so, and the detective threw it all at the media instead. Why? Because once you're convicted by the media, YOU'RE CONVICTED. It's a sad truth, but everyone who was dear to me fed into it. In the end, these pornography charges were dropped, but I was still convicted. By all of you. But I don't hold that against anyone. The media fed me to the wolves when I had these pornography charges, but where were they when the charges were dropped?
I admit now, I *did* make a mistake, one for which I am now paying the price with 4 years and six months of my life. I fully accept my punishment, and I won't complain because this is what I had coming to me. I want people to know I don't intend to ever break the law again, and that I know *nothing*, no amount of money is worth being locked up for even a minute. I apologize to everyone who feels I've wronged them. I am *not* that vile degenerate the Va. Beach Police and the media made me out to be.
Please, if you have any comments to this, write me at: Narciso Salas #57371-083, PO Box 1000, Morgantown, WV 26507