Thread: RI-Man Charged,Wire Fraud,Impersonating a Federal Agent

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Pawtucket Man Charged with Wire Fraud, Impersonating a Federal Agent
Chris Boardman

Story Created: Dec 24, 2009 at 11:11 AM EST

Story Updated: Dec 24, 2009 at 11:54 AM EST

Audeliz Villegas, 44, of Pawtucket, has been charged in a federal complaint with wire fraud and impersonating a federal agent. Villegas allegedly defrauded immigrants by posing as an immigration attorney. He later claimed that he was a federal immigration agent and threatened to have individuals whom he had allegedly defrauded arrested.

United States Attorney Peter F. Neronha and Bruce M. Foucart, Special Agent in Charge for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), announced the complaint, which was filed on December 22 in U.S. District Court, Providence.

According to an affidavit supporting the complaint, an individual contacted ICE agents in Rhode Island earlier this month and claimed that Villegas had defrauded the individual and a friend and, after they tried to contact him about the alleged fraud, he claimed he was an immigration agent and threatened them with arrest.

Both the individual who contacted ICE and the individual’s friend said that they had dealt with Villegas over the past month, according to the affidavit, and he had represented himself as an immigration attorney out of New York who could help them with various immigration problems. The first individual paid Villegas a total of $3,500 and Villegas gave the individual forms purporting to be official court documents authorizing the release of one of the individual’s family members from immigration detention. Agents later noticed several indications that the documents were forgeries. They also determined that Villegas was not registered as an attorney with the New York Bar.

ICE agents interviewed the second individual, identified in the affidavit as Source of Information 2, who claimed to have also dealt with Villegas in his purported role as an immigration attorney. The source had contacted Villegas after being served with genuine Immigration documents requiring the source to appear at an Immigration office in Burlington, Massachusetts.

After that individual paid Villegas $800, which Villegas said was to secure an immigration hearing, Villegas gave the individual an official looking document purporting to be from the “United States Department of Justice, Homeland Security, Immigration and Naturalization Service.â€

Villegas allegedly defrauded immigrants by posing as an immigration attorney.

Real Immigration Attorneys must be pissed, that could have been their monies!

So it seems some are allowed to defend their borders and others have to tolerate the fraud and corruption.


"We don't need no stinking badges!"