October 13, 2008


3 accused of selling fake immigration papers

Robin Fitzgerald
McClatchy Newspapers

Three Biloxi residents are held under suspicion of conspiring to forge and sell fraudulent immigration documents.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Walker has ordered Norberto Sanchez, Cornelio Sanchez and Evelia Cabrera-Vasquez held for federal marshals pending a court appearance Tuesday.

The three are accused of making and selling sets of resident-alien cards and Social Security cards for about $150 per set. Resident-alien cards allow entry into the United States or serve as evidence of an authorized stay or period of employment.

A criminal complaint signed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent alleges the crimes began on or before September and continued through Wednesday when the three were arrested.

The complaint alleges a confidential informant, working with federal agents, provided a man named Carlos Garcia five photos Wednesday morning so the documents could be prepared. The informant claimed he needed the documents so his workers could perform jobs on a military base.

Authorities said surveillance units followed Garcia to a mobile home on Switzer Road in Gulfport, then to a DeBuys Road apartment in Biloxi.

A few hours later ICE agents and Gulfport police arrested Garcia - later identified as Norberto Sanchez - in front of a business on Pass Road. Authorities said he was delivering the documents to the informant.

Agents searched a car registered to Sanchez. They seized a digital camera and business cards Sanchez allegedly used to promote his document-producing service.

Agents also arrested Cornelio Sanchez and Cabrera-Vasquez, who share the Biloxi apartment with Norberto Sanchez. The ICE agent claims both had fraudulent documents with their names and pictures at the time of their arrests.

The three were brought before Walker on Thursday with an interpreter present to translate. Walker ordered them held pending preliminary and detention hearings Tuesday.

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