Two foreign nationals have pleaded guilty for their roles in a scheme to traffic the identities of Puerto Rican U.S. citizens and corresponding identity documents.
The guilty pleas were announced today by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Rosa E. Rodríguez-Vélez for the District of Puerto Rico; Director John Morton of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which oversees Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); Chief Postal Inspector Guy Cottrell of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS); Scott P. Bultrowicz, Director of the U.S. State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS); and Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Chief Richard Weber.
Obdulio Edu Burgos-Dominguez, 35, a Guatemalan national formerly of Seymour, Ind., pleaded guilty today in the District of Puerto Rico to one count of conspiracy to commit identification fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit alien smuggling for profit. Jose Sergio Garcia-Ramirez, 37, a Mexican national formerly of Rockford, Ill., pleaded guilty in the District of Puerto Rico on July 17, 2012, to one count of conspiracy to commit identification fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. Both pleas took place before U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce J. McGiverin.
To date, a total of 53 individuals have been charged for their roles in the identify trafficking scheme. Court documents allege that individuals located in the Savarona area of Caguas, Puerto Rico (Savarona suppliers) obtained Puerto Rican identities and corresponding identity documents. Other conspirators located in various cities throughout the United States (identity brokers) allegedly solicited customers and sold Social Security cards and corresponding Puerto Rico birth certificates for prices ranging from $700 to $2,500 per set.
The superseding indictment alleges that identity brokers ordered the identity documents from Savarona suppliers, on behalf of the customers, by making coded telephone calls. The conspirators used text mail, money transfer services and express, priority or regular U.S. mail to complete their illicit transactions.
Court documents allege that some identity brokers assumed a Puerto Rican identity themselves and used that identity in connection with the trafficking operation. Their customers generally obtained the identity documents to assume the identity of Puerto Rican U.S. citizens and to obtain additional identification documents, such as legitimate state driver’s licenses. Some customers allegedly obtained the documents to commit financial fraud and attempted to obtain a U.S. passport.
Burgos-Dominguez admitted that he operated as an identity broker in Seymour, Ind. Garcia-Ramirez admitted that he operated as an identity broker in Rockford, Ill. According to court documents, various identity brokers were operating in multiple cities across the country.
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