Thread: TX - Change-of-plea entered for identity-theft hearing of school teacher

Change-of-plea entered for identity-theft hearing

Undocumented immigrant facing one count of stolen identity

Posted: December 15, 2012 - 4:20pm
By The Associated Press

WICHITA — An illegal immigrant accused of completely assuming the persona of a Houston elementary school teacher has reached a plea deal in a case that put a face to the growing problem of “total identity theft” in the United States, a prosecutor said.

A docket notation Friday shows a change-of-plea hearing for Benita Cardona-Gonzalez has been scheduled for Jan. 7 in federal court in Wichita. The notice comes the same day that prosecutors amended charges against her to a single count of possessing fraudulent identification documents.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brent Anderson confirmed Saturday that the woman’s defense attorney had advised him and the court that Cardona-Gonzalez had accepted the plea offer and is ready to plead guilty.

The Mexican national is accused of completely assuming the persona of teacher Candida L. Gutierrez, who first went public with her plight in a story by The Associated Press that circulated around the world. Gutierrez first learned her identity had been hijacked when she was turned down for a mortgage more than a decade ago.

All the while Cardona-Gonzalez claimed it was Gutierrez who had stolen her identity. The women’s unusual tug-of-war personified the problem of “total identity theft” in which con artists go beyond financial fraud to assume many other aspects of another person’s life.

In this case, the thief not only opened fraudulent credit and bank accounts but also used the stolen identity to obtain a job, a driver’s license, a mortgage and even medical care for the birth of two children.

Gutierrez did not immediately return a phone message left on her cellphone.

Anderson declined further comment on the case but said that Friday’s court filing is similar to those in other document fraud cases that typically result in a 12-month or longer sentence as an aggravated felony conviction. Persons convicted of an aggravated felony are almost always subject to automatic deportation.

Cardona-Gonzalez’s defense attorney, Matthew Works, did not return phone and email messages seeking comment.

Both women claimed they were identity theft victims and sought to get new Social Security numbers. The Social Security Administration turned down the request from Gutierrez, instead issuing a new number to the woman impersonating her. And in another ironic twist, Gutierrez was forced to file her federal income tax forms using a special identification number usually reserved for illegal immigrants.

Cardona-Gonzalez allegedly used the stolen identity during a 10-year period when she worked at a Topeka company that packages refrigerated foods. The alleged ruse was exposed after Gutierrez’s new husband contacted federal authorities in Kansas and asked them to investigate the employee working there who had stolen his wife’s identity.

The alleged impostor was arrested in August, and her fingerprints confirmed that immigration agents had encountered Cardona-Gonzalez in 1996 in Harlingen, Texas, and sent her back to Mexico.

Change-of-plea entered for identity-theft hearing | CJOnline.com

I assume she will be deported again?