Thread: Springdale : Fake ID cards linked to Mexican ring

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Springdale : Fake ID cards linked to Mexican ring

Forgery 'cells' cater to aliens, authorities say

BY MICHELLE BRADFORD -- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
This story was published Sunday, August 14, 2005


Springdale, Ark. -- A document-forgery operation in Springdale has ties to a national ring that uses illegal immigrants to make counterfeit identification documents, authorities say.


Police said the operation at Apartment M205 of Eastwood Apartments catered to illegal aliens, who for two main reasons sought identification documents : to get jobs or to conceal criminal pasts.


"These people want fake personas to blend in," Springdale Detective Al Barrios said. "They may have warrants, or they've been deported and are back illegally. Whatever the reason, they want identification to present in case they're pulled over on a traffic stop or otherwise have contact with the police."


On July 28, police seized phony, computer-generated Social Security cards, driver's licenses and resident alien cards from Apartment M205. They seized computer and laminating equipment and detailed customer records.


A tenant, Pablo Rivera, 25, faces charges of forgery and possessing a forgery device. He's in the Washington County jail without bond.


The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency identifies Rivera in an affidavit as the leader of a documentforgery "cell" with ties to a national counterfeiting ring. The ring uses smuggled immigrants for the sole purpose of making and distributing counterfeit ID cards, according to the affidavit in Washington County Circuit Court.


Carl Rusnok, spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Dallas, said the operation at Apartment M205 resembles the work of a Mexican family cartel. The "Castorena family organization" is known for producing high-quality fake ID cards for illegal aliens, operating cells in various states and keeping meticulous records, Rusnok said.


The organization works like a franchise, with key members overseeing cells that operate counterfeiting labs, often in apartments. The organization uses computer templates of government seals to make realistic driver's licenses, identification cards and immigration documents.


Rusnok wouldn't confirm whether Rivera is linked to the Castorena family organization.


A police report says Rivera supervised several "subordinates" in the Springdale operation and has ties to nine other counterfeiting suspects arrested in Northwest Arkansas since May.


The report doesn't name the nine suspects, and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency won't comment.


The Springdale operation duplicated out-of-state driver's licenses rather than Arkansas licenses, Barrios said. During the July 28 search, police seized fake driver's licenses purporting to be from Texas, Ohio, Tennessee, California and the Mexican states of Hidalgo and Michoacan, he said.


"If someone tried to counterfeit an Arkansas driver's license, we'd spot it a mile away," Barrios said. "In this case, they were selling state and Mexican IDs that we don't necessarily have the expertise to spot. From our perspective, it's an eye-opener."




APARTMENT M205



A landlord spotted a computer system, laminating equipment and various ID cards inside Apartment M205, the affidavit states. She went inside July 28 to check the air-conditioning filters.


Immigration agents already had Rivera under surveillance in connection with the ring, according to reports. Days earlier, they'd arrested him on immigration charges at Apartment D103, his girlfriend's residence.


Rivera denied association with Apartment M205, but he was listed as a tenant there. And immigration agents had been watching him come and go, the affidavit states.


During the search, police found computer templates for driver's licenses of Texas, Ohio and Mexico. They seized 159 blank resident alien cards, 66 blank Social Security cards and laminate sheets depicting state seals and emblems.


They also seized $3,000 cash separated in envelopes bearing individual customer information.


They found dozens of Polaroid photos of customers posing like they would for driver's license photos.


Some customers stood in front of a blue towel hung to create a backdrop similar to that of an Ohio driver's license. A white refrigerator was the backdrop for other photos.


Springdale Detective C.E. Motsinger said the forgers followed a simple process: Photograph a customer, cut out the silhouette, affix it to an ID card and laminate it.


On certain cards, the forgers affixed a gold-colored stripe to resemble a bar code. They charged $500 to $1,000 per ID card, Motsinger said.


Dozens of the resident alien cards bore Rivera's fingerprint. Rivera is also known as Guillormo T. Ochoa, according to an arrest report.


Motsinger said police can check the authenticity of ID cards by looking for holograms or confirming the information with the National Crime Information Center. But when forgers use legitimate information from an illegally obtained document, it's more difficult for police to detect a problem.


INSIDIOUS BUSINESS



Bob Balfe, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, said many document-forgery cases involve a real person's identity that is stolen or willingly sold.


Suspected illegal aliens arrested in a July 26 raid near Arkadelphia, for example, used assumed identities to get jobs at a Clark County poultry-processing plant, federal prosecutors said.


Workers arrested at Petit Jean Poultry Inc. purchased Social Security numbers and U.S. birth certificates from a fellow coworker. The personal information belonged to real U.S. citizens who willingly sold their identities to Maria Isabel Moreno of Arkadelphia, prosecutors said. Moreno, in turn, sold the information to co-workers.


She pleaded guilty in February to three federal counts of possessing and selling identity records. She was sentenced in May to time served plus five months of home detention.


According to Steven N. Snyder, an assistant U.S. attorney in Fort Smith, U.S. citizens willingly sold their original Social Security cards and birth certificates to a person in Arizona who then mailed them to Moreno for resale to illegal aliens.


Very few cases involve fictitious data, Balfe said, although in the Springdale case, police believe both real and fictitious data are being used.


Federal prosecutors in the Western District of Arkansas primarily target document-forgery dealers and suppliers, Balfe said. They also prosecute illegal aliens who use phony ID cards to hide criminal pasts.


"These are people who are reentering the country with serious criminal records and want to hide their identities," Balfe said. "Drug smugglers, convicted sex offenders, they have a strong desire not to be caught using the same name they were deported under."


Balfe said the workers arrested at the Petit Jean plant and others who live under assumed identities are at a disadvantage.


He said a 14-year-old girl worked under a false identity at Petit Jean doing dangerous deboning work.


"People living under false identities can be taken advantage of," Balfe said. "They're afraid to seek help from authorities. They can't apply for workers compensation if they're injured. They basically live in an underworld."


Balfe said that fake ID cards can be used to facilitate travel, financial transactions and even obtain an Arkansas driver's license, which is an entry point to loans, credit and government benefits.


The problem goes beyond identity theft and forgery, Balfe said.


"It's a national security issue," he said. "We don't want terrorists being able to obtain driver's licenses in this country."

Good 'ol Pablo! He came here for a better life and doggone it became an entreprenuer! Good for him!

<sarcasm>



At least he wasn't stealing an American job, do you think? There are American traitors, however, who would stoop for greed to the low level of document falsification.

Seeing that these people kept such good records that means INS is tracking the illegals down right?

Yeah right!