Obdulio Edu Burgos-Dominguez, Identity Trafficking, Puerto Rico 2012

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Table of Contents

Guatemalan National Pleads Guilty to Identity Trafficking in Puerto Rico

Obdulio Edu Burgos-Dominguez, 35, a Guatemalan national formerly of Seymour, Ind., pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit identification fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit alien smuggling for profit.

The guilty plea was announced today by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the 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.

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.

Burgos-Dominguez admitted that he operated as an identity broker in Seymour, Ind. He pleaded guilty today in the District of Puerto Rico before U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce J. McGiverin. Sentencing is scheduled for November 30, 2012, and Burgos-Dominguez faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison for conspiracy to commit identification fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit alien smuggling for profit.

This case is the result of an investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which oversees Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS); the U.S. State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS); and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI).

To date, a total of 53 individuals have been charged for their roles in the identify trafficking scheme.