14 CHARGED IN IDENTITY TRAFFICKING CONSPIRACY

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

14 Individuals Charged with Trafficking Identities of Puerto Rican U.S. Citizens
Fourteen individuals were charged in three indictments in Puerto Rico with conspiracy to commit identification fraud, money laundering, aggravated identity theft and passport fraud in connection with their alleged roles in a scheme to traffic the identities and corresponding identity documents of Puerto Rican U.S. citizens.

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), which oversees Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), 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 multi-count indictments were returned by a federal grand jury on Aug. 6, 2014.   Since that time, five of the defendants have been found and arrested (four in Puerto Rico and one in Florida).   They will be arraigned in federal court this week.   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.

According to the indictments, from at least July 2008 through April 2014, conspirators in the mainland United States and in Puerto Rico 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.

Specifically, the indictments allege that individuals located in the Caguas, Rio Piedras and San Juan areas of Puerto Rico (suppliers) obtained Puerto Rican identities and corresponding identity documents, and conspirators in various locations in the United States (identity brokers) solicited customers for those identities and documents.   The identity brokers allegedly sold the identities and documents to the customers for prices ranging from $700 to $2,500 per set of Social Security cards and corresponding Puerto Rico birth certificates.

According to the indictment, the identity brokers ordered the identity documents from the suppliers by making coded telephone calls, including 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.

According to the indictments, once the identity brokers received the identity documents, they delivered the documents to the customers and obtained the remaining payment from the customers.   The brokers generally kept the second payment for themselves as profit.   Some identity brokers allegedly assumed a Puerto Rican identity themselves and used that identity in connection with the trafficking operation.

As alleged in the indictments, the customers generally obtained the identity documents to assume the identity of Puerto Rican U.S. citizens and obtain additional identification documents, such as state driver’s licenses.   Some customers allegedly obtained the documents to commit financial fraud and others attempted to obtain U.S. passports.

The indictments alleges that various identity brokers were operating in Indianapolis,   Columbus and Seymour, Indiana; Aurora, Illinois; Bartow, Florida; Lawrenceville, Jonesboro and Norcross, Georgia; Salisbury, Maryland; Columbus, Ohio; Lawrence and Springfield, Massachusetts; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Houston, Texas; Guymon, Oklahoma; Huron, South Dakota and Albertville, Alabama.

The charges announced today are the result of Operation Island Express II, an ongoing, nationally-coordinated investigation led by the ICE-HSI Chicago Office and USPIS, DSS and IRS-CID offices in Chicago, in coordination with the ICE-HSI San Juan Office.   The Illinois Secretary of State Police provided substantial assistance.   The ICE-HSI Attaché office in the Dominican Republic, National Drug Intelligence Center - Document and Media Exploitation Branch and International Organized Crime Intelligence and Operations Center (IOC-2) provided invaluable assistance, as well as various ICE, USPIS, DSS and IRS CI offices around the country.

The case is being prosecuted by the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section, with the assistance of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecution Section, and the support of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico.

MAN PLEADS GUILTY IN VOTER INTIMIDATION AND IDENTIFICATION FRAUD CASE

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Seattle Man Pleads Guilty to Voter Intimidation and Identification Fraud for Letters Sent to Florida Residents in Conjunction with the 2012 Federal Elections

James Webb Baker Jr., 58, of Seattle, pleaded guilty today to one count of voter intimidation and one count of identification fraud in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.  Prior to the 2012 federal elections, Baker created and sent 200 fake voter eligibility letters to Republican Party donors across Florida that questioned the recipients’ citizenship status.  During the plea hearing, Baker admitted that he intended the letters to look as if they were written by county elections officials and that his purpose in sending the letters was to intimidate the recipients and interfere with their right to vote.

According to the evidence presented in court proceedings and documents, in October 2012, Baker read about the efforts of the Florida Governor and the Florida Secretary of State to remove the names of voters from the official Florida county lists of eligible voters.  Angered by what he believed to be an attempt to suppress voter turnout, specifically of Hispanic voters who would vote for candidates of the Democratic Party, Baker created “false” or “copycat” voter eligibility letters of the actual letters sent by county officials.  Baker sent his letters, which questioned the recipient’s eligibility to vote, to 200 Republican Party donors.  The letters required the recipients to complete a voter eligibility form within 15 days or else their name would be removed from the voter registration rolls.  Baker inserted a line of text in bold stating that a nonregistered voter who casts a vote may be subject to criminal sanctions.

The letters looked almost identical to official county Supervisor of Elections letters, and included the county official’s name, letterhead, address and contact information.  During the plea proceedings, Baker admitted to making several changes to the original official letters in order to stress the threats that the recipients would lose their right to vote and/or be imprisoned if they did not first document their citizenship and right to vote in person to the registrar.

“Protecting the right to vote is one of the department’s top priorities,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels for the Civil Rights Division.  “The Civil Rights Division is strongly committed to comprehensive and vigorous enforcement of laws that protect the rights of every American to vote free from intimidation, coercion, or threats.”

“My office is committed to aggressively protecting the integrity of the election process,” said U.S. Attorney A. Lee Bentley III for the Middle District of Florida.  “Each citizen must be able to vote without intimidation or discrimination and to have that vote counted.  It is imperative that those who have specific information about intimidation, discrimination or election fraud make that information available immediately to my office, the FBI or the Civil Rights Division.”

“This joint investigative effort is yet another example of the fortitude and commitment  of our collective agencies to protect our citizen’s individual and constitutional rights,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Paul Wysopal for the FBI Tampa Field Office.

“This case was complex,”  said Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey.  “It required the expertise and dedication of FDLE Executive Investigations, crime lab analysts and intelligence analysts.  Their efforts led to the identification and conviction of Baker.  My thanks to each of them.”
           
“Using the U.S. Mail to threaten or intimidate voters will not be tolerated,” said  Inspector in Charge Brad Kleinknecht with the Seattle Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.  “The Postal Inspection Service, along with its law enforcement partners, will continue to investigate all cases of this nature to ensure the U.S. Mail continues to play a key role our nation's election process.”

This case was investigated by the FBI, U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.  It is being prosecuted by Special Litigation Counsel Mark Blumburg and Trial Attorney William E. Nolan of the Civil Rights Division, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert A. Mosakowski of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.

TWO PLEAD GUILTY FOR ROLES IN IDENTITY TRAFFICKING CONSPIRACY

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Two Foreign Nationals Plead Guilty in Puerto Rican Identity Trafficking Conspiracy

A Dominican national and a Mexican national each pleaded guilty today in connection with their roles in trafficking the identities of Puerto Rican U.S. citizens and corresponding identity documents.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Rosa E. Rodríguez-Vélez of the District of Puerto Rico, Acting Director John Sandweg of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Chief Postal Inspector Guy J. Cottrell of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), Director Gregory B. Starr of the U.S. State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) and Chief Richard Weber of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) made the announcement.

Jorge Luis “Daniel” Mendez, 37, formerly of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Enrique Rogelio Mendez-Solis, 37, formerly of Seymour, Ind., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Juan M. Pérez-Giménez in the District of Puerto Rico to one count of conspiracy to commit identification fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit alien smuggling for financial gain and three counts of aggravated identity theft.   They face a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison for conspiracy to commit identification fraud, 10 years in prison for conspiracy to commit alien smuggling for financial gain, and two years in prison for each aggravated identity theft count when they are sentenced on April 28, 2014.

Both defendants were charged in a superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Puerto Rico on March 22, 2012.   To date, 53 individuals have been charged for their roles in the identity trafficking scheme, 49 defendants have been arrested, and 49 have pleaded guilty.

Court documents allege that individuals located in the Savarona area of Caguas, Puerto Rico, obtained Puerto Rican identities and corresponding identity documents.   Other conspirators located in various cities throughout the United States 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 these identity brokers in the United States ordered the identity documents from the document suppliers in Savarona on behalf of their customers by making coded telephone calls.   The conspirators are charged with using text messages, money transfer services, and express, priority, or regular U.S. mail to complete their illicit transactions.

Court documents allege that some of the conspirators 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.

According to court documents, various identity brokers were operating in Rockford, DeKalb and Aurora, Ill.; Seymour, Columbus and Indianapolis, Ind.; Hartford, Conn.; Clewiston, Fla.; Lilburn and Norcross, Ga.; Salisbury, Md.; Columbus and Fairfield, Ohio; Dorchester, Lawrence, Salem and Worcester, Mass.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Nebraska City, Neb.; Elizabeth, N.J.; Burlington and Hickory, N.C.; Hazelton and Philadelphia, Penn.; Houston; Abingdon and Albertville, Ala.; and Providence, R.I.

Mendez admitted that he operated as a Savarona supplier.   Mendez-Solis admitted that he operated as an identity broker in the Seymour, Ind., area.

The charges are the result of Operation Island Express, an ongoing, nationally coordinated investigation led by the ICE Homeland Security Investigations’ (ICE-HSI) Chicago Office and USPIS, DSS and IRS-CI offices in Chicago, in coordination with the ICE-HSI San Juan Office and the DSS Resident Office in Puerto Rico.   The Illinois Secretary of State Police; Elgin, Ill., Police Department; Seymour, Ind., Police Department; and Indiana State Police provided substantial assistance.   The ICE-HSI Assistant Attaché office in the Dominican Republic and International Organized Crime Intelligence and Operations Center (IOC-2), as well as various ICE, USPIS, DSS and IRS-CI offices around the country, provided invaluable support.

The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys James S. Yoon, Hope S. Olds, Courtney B. Schaefer and Christina Giffin of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section, with the assistance of the Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, and the support of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico.   The U.S. Attorney’s Offices in the Northern District of Illinois, Southern District of Indiana, District of Connecticut, District of Massachusetts, District of Nebraska, Middle District of North Carolina, Southern District of Ohio, Middle District of Pennsylvania, District of Rhode Island, Southern District of Texas and Western District of Virginia provided substantial assistance.