Thread: VA: Document mill for bogus IDs found in Norfolk

Document mill for bogus IDs found in Norfolk

By Tim McGlone
The Virginian-Pilot
© January 27, 2010

NORFOLK

Authorities say they have uncovered another so-called document mill that was producing hundreds of bogus identifications, Social Security cards and green cards enabling illegal immigrants to live and work here.

Three suspects charged with operating the ring appeared in U.S. District Court on Tuesday afternoon. A magistrate judge ordered them detained pending grand jury action.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents used confidential informants to infiltrate the ring and record conversations implicating the suspects in the production and sale of the phony documents, according to a court affidavit filed by an ICE agent.

One suspect worked out of a house on Galveston Boulevard near Wards Corner in Norfolk.

The three suspects each admitted to federal agents to producing and selling phony work and identification documents, generally for $150 per set, according to the affidavit filed by ICE special agent Kevin Hogancamp.

A search of computers and storage drives indicated that hundreds of documents had been produced and sold, the affidavit says.

The suspects - Patrocinio Castro-Quijano, Gerardo Ortega-Cortes and Onofre Dela Cruz-Vite - acknowledged to authorities that each is in the country illegally, the affidavit says.

Mike Netherland, special agent in charge of the Norfolk ICE office, said these kinds of phony documents are essential for illegal immigrants to move freely in the community. The documents are generally authentic looking, making them difficult for law enforcement and employers to realize they are fake.

The primary concern, he added, is national security.

"Anytime you have individuals producing documents that would be of interest to ICE," he said, "obviously it is something of a concern with us."

Last year, ICE agents arrested several other document producers, a lso using undercover informants.

Ricardo Reyes-Garcia and his partner, Carlomagno Garcia-Diaz, pleaded guilty to charges related to the sale of phony immigration documents. They also operated out of Norfolk, along Little Creek Road, as well as in the South Boston area of Virginia.

Another man was arrested and convicted of producing phony documents on the Peninsula.

In the current case, an informant acting as a broker recorded a sale of phony documents at a Norfolk home involving Dela Cruz-Vite, according to Hogancamp's affidavit. When the buyer got into a vehicle with four others and drove off, the agents stopped them and took all five into custody. They were all determined to be here illegally and will be deported.

That led to the purchase of more documents by the informant in January.

Last Wednesday, the agents raided a house at an unidentified location in Norfolk and arrested the three suspects. One of the agents who had gone around back saw a Christmas stocking fly out a window. Inside, the agent found a computer thumb drive that contained 75 to 100 images of phony green cards, Social Security cards and driver's licenses, with a different image on each.

Computer equipment found inside the house was set up to produce untold numbers of phony documents. One suspect admitted to the agents to selling 35 to 40 of sets of counterfeit documents, the affidavit says.

http://hamptonroads.com/node/538985

Get these people out of here now! Wake up Sheriffs, Wake up Police Chiefs, Wake up State Patrols ... get these people out of here ... now!

Grrrrrr.

So if ICE recovered the names and numbers from the hard drives, can those be traced? Is ICE allowed to use the IRS database to locate where these crooks are employed? Everyone who purchased fake documents should be charged with organized crime and counterfeiting.
ICE should at least check the computer records for any U.S. citizens who may have had their info stolen.

Feds: Trio cranked out counterfeit documents for illegal immigrants

by Brian Farrell

Posted on January 26, 2010 at 10:42 PM

Updated yesterday at 11:19 PM


NORFOLK -- Federal agents say they broke up a counterfeit ring that put forged documents into the hands of illegal immigrants in Hampton Roads.

Patrocinio Castro-Quijano, Gerardo Ortega-Cortes, and Onofre De La Cruz-Vite appeared in United States District Court Tuesday afternoon for a preliminary/detention hearing, answering to allegations they illegally produced Resident Alien Cards and Social Security Cards, as well as other documentation, then sold them.

Kevin D. Hogancamp, a Special Agent with the Department of Homeland Security, United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), says in an affidavit he and other members of an investigative team used confidential informants on several occasions to broker deals for the counterfeit documents. Hogancamp outlines some of the evidence against the defendants, including audio and visual recordings and bogus documents recovered from the purchases facilitated by the confidential informants.

On January 20, 2010, agents executed a search warrant at a home in Norfolk. Hogancamp writes, "Multiple computers, scanners, cameras, card stock and other items used (to) manufacture counterfeit identification documents were discovered in the residence."

The special agent goes on to say, "Moments before Castro-Quijano answered the door, a member of the investigative team conducting perimeter security in the rear of the residence observed a small object thrown from the window. The agent collected what he immediately determined to be a portable storage device (thumb drive) concealed in a small Christmas stocking. In a post arrest interview, Ortega-Cortes admitted to throwing the thumb drive out the window. Preliminary computer forensic analysis of the thumb drive revealed 75-100 images of Resident Alien Cards, Social Security Cards, and North Carolina Driver's Licenses. Each image appeared to contain a different person and different biographical information."

Hogancamp explains, "Post arrest statements indicated Castro-Quijano, Ortega-Cortes, and De La Cruz-Vite were all involved in the conspiracy to manufacture of counterfeit documents. Specifically, Castro-Quijano indicated he was engaged in selling counterfeit documents, but maintained that he had only sold 8-12 cards. Ortega-Cortes admitted to selling 35 to 40 sets of counterfeit documents, each set included a counterfeit Resident Alien Card and a counterfeit Social Security Card. De La Cruz-Vite admitted that he was involved in the scheme to produce counterfeit identification documents in that he took pictures of persons purchasing the cards and collected money from the sales."

13News stopped by the home of Castro-Quijano Tuesday, where his wife, Soccorro Rodriguez, was with their four children. Rodriguez and other family members describe the 36-year-old as a good husband and father. They tell us he works as a contractor and that they were not aware that Castro-Quijano might have been doing something illegal. Rodriguez also tells 13News her husband's co-defendants are good people.

http://www.wvec.com/news/local/Feds-Tri ... 57567.html