14 Charged in ID Trafficking Scheme

Fourteen individuals have been charged in a massive identity trafficking scheme that targeted Puerto Rican U.S. citizens, investigators announced today. The suspects allegedly conspired to commit identification fraud, money laundering, aggravated identity theft, and passport fraud.

The indictment alleges that between July 2008 and April 2014, the conspirators sold the identities and corresponding Social Security cards, Puerto Rico birth certificates, and other identification documents of Puerto Rican U.S. citizens to undocumented aliens and others residing in the mainland United States.

According to the indictment, the identity brokers ordered the identity documents from the suppliers by making coded telephone calls, using terms such as ‘shirts,’ ‘uniforms,’ or ‘clothes’ to refer to identity documents. The suppliers generally requested that the identity brokers send payment for the documents through a money transfer service to names provided by the suppliers.

The conspirators frequently confirmed payee names and addresses, money transfer control numbers, and trafficked identities via text messaging. The suppliers allegedly retrieved the payments from the money transfer service and sent the identity documents to the brokers using express, priority, or regular U.S. Mail.

A total of three indictments were returned by a federal grand jury on August 6, 2014. Since that time, five of the defendants have been found and arrested (four in Puerto Rico and one in Florida). Arrest warrants have been issued for the remaining defendants, who will make their initial appearances in federal court in the districts in which they are arrested.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodriguez-Velez for the District of Puerto Rico, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Thomas Winkowski of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Chief Postal Inspector Guy Cottrell of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), Chief Richard Weber of the Internal Revenue Criminal Investigation Division (IRSCID), and Director Bill Miller of the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) made the announcement.

The indictment alleges that various identity brokers were operating in Indianapolis, Columbus, and Seymour, Indiana; Aurora, Illinois; Bartow, Florida; and other locations. The suspects face a range of charges, including conspiracy to commit identification fraud, money laundering, aggravated identity theft, and passport fraud.

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