Hector Eduardo Arias Mejia, Passport Fraud, Massachusetts 2025

A Dominican national, Hector Eduardo Arias Mejia, has been sentenced to two years and one day in prison for passport fraud and other offenses in Massachusetts. The 49-year-old Fall River resident was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns to the prison time and one year of supervised release.

Arias Mejia is also subject to deportation upon completion of the imposed sentence. The defendant pleaded guilty to misuse of a Social Security number, aggravated identity theft, and making a false statement in an application for a United States passport in March 2025.

The investigation revealed that Arias Mejia unlawfully used the identity of a United States citizen from Puerto Rico since at least 2011. In 2011, using that stolen identity, Arias Mejia was convicted in the Fall River District Court of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, for which he served an 18-month jail sentence.

Additionally, in 2016, Arias Mejia was convicted in the Fall River District Court of three counts of possession with intent to distribute drugs, using the same stolen identity, and was sentenced to two years in jail.

The investigation was conducted by Homeland Security Investigation’s Document and Benefit Fraud Task Force (DBFTF), a specialized investigative group comprising personnel from various state, local, and federal agencies with expertise in detecting, deterring, and disrupting organizations and individuals involved in various types of document, identity, and benefit fraud schemes.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England, made the announcement. Valuable assistance was provided by Homeland Security Investigations in Santo Domingo; Puerto Rico Department of Public Safety; U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service; Social Security Administration, Office of Inspector General; U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Office of Inspector General; U.S. Postal Inspection Service; and Massachusetts State Police.

Assistant U.S. Attorney David G. Tobin of the Major Crimes Unit prosecuted the case.

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