Mario Argueta-Chun, False Identification Documents, Louisiana 2024

A Guatemalan man has been sentenced for selling false identification documents in New Orleans.

Mario Argueta-Chun, 41, a native of Guatemala, was sentenced to time served (10 months of imprisonment) and a $100 special assessment fee after previously pleading guilty to unlawfully transferring false identification documents.

Argueta-Chun was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Eldon E. Fallon on November 22, 2023.

According to court documents, in November 2016, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) received information that an unidentified male was selling fraudulent Social Security and U.S. Lawful Permanent Resident cards to buyers in the New Orleans area.

During the investigation, agents learned that Argueta-Chun was one of the people selling the fraudulent identification cards. As a result, the agents purchased documents during undercover buys from the defendant on six occasions, wherein the buyer would have his picture on the documents along with a fraudulent Social Security number.

A Forensic Document Examiner analyzed all of the documents purchased from Argueta-Chun and determined that they were counterfeit. The Social Security numbers belonged to people other than the names placed onto the documents and contained holograms, symbols, and sequences of numbers and letters which made the documents appear to have been issued under the authority of the United States.

U.S. Attorney Peter G. Strasser praised the work of Homeland Security Investigations and the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office in investigating this matter. Assistant United States Attorney Jon Maestri is in charge of the prosecution.

Argueta-Chun will be surrendered to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement for removal proceedings.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edla/pr/guatemalan-man-sentenced-transferring-false-identification-documents