Feds Charge ID Fraud Scheme
Posted 2008-03-12
Ex-Cargill Employee Held; Eight Indicted In Alleged Multistate Plot
By Pete DeLea
HARRISONBURG — Federal immigration officials raided the Cargill Meat Solutions plant in Dayton Tuesday, and also arrested a former Cargill employee and four illegal immigrants off-site.
The arrests were part of an alleged multistate conspiracy to obtain and sell identification cards to illegal immigrants, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The government’s undercover operation led to a federal grand jury indictment of eight people last week. Although the indictments were returned Thursday at the U.S. District Court in Roanoke, they weren’t unsealed until Tuesday.
Among the indicted was former Cargill employee Edwin Roberto Mendez, who prosecutors say led three Cargill employees to Ohio to obtain identification fraudulently.
The other people indicted are from Ohio and Puerto Rico.
Mendez, of El Salvador, is a legal permanent resident of the U.S., and has been living in the Harrisonburg area. He was charged with conspiracy, aggravated identification fraud and identity fraud conspiracy. He faces up to 22 years in prison and a $500,000 fine if convicted on all charges.
The four illegal immigrants arrested Tuesday have not been identified or charged, but the government says it plans to deport them. Federal officials wouldn’t say whether the four worked at Cargill.
The plant didn’t shut down during the search and no one was arrested on-site Tuesday, said Mark Klein, director of communications for Cargill.
U.S. Attorney John Brownlee said the case prevented more people from obtaining fraudulent identification to gain employment.
“Enforcing our nation’s immigration laws is one of our highest priorities,” Brownlee said. “Had this conspiracy not been stopped, many more illegal aliens would have obtained identification papers, making it extremely difficult for law enforcement to identify and deport them.”
Cargill Employees Spark Investigation
The investigation started when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained four Guatemalan nationals in August. Three of them were employed at the Cargill facility in Dayton and had authentic Puerto Rican birth certificates, related Social Security cards and Ohio identification cards.
The three said they purchased the documents from Mendez, Brownlee said.
With that information, Brownlee said, ICE used a confidential informant to contact Mendez.
“Mendez sold the confidential informant an authentic Puerto Rican birth certificate and related Social Security card for $600,” Brownlee said. “Mendez had obtained the Puerto Rican documents from defendant Rosado-Rodriguez, who lived in Puerto Rico.”
Mendez told the informant he had been recruiting illegal immigrants who wanted to purchase Puerto Rican documents with matching Social Security cards, Brownlee said.
“Mendez stated that he had been selling the bogus documents for approximately nine years,” Brownlee said. “Mendez advised that since the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Virginia had made it more difficult to obtain authentic state identification documents from its Division of Motor Vehicles.”
Trip To Ohio
Mendez told the informant that they would need to go to Ohio to obtain an identification card, Brownlee said.
The group planned to go to Ohio because, according to Brownlee, it’s easier to use Puerto Rican documents to get identification there than in Virginia.
“The Ohio franchises, headed by a deputy registrar, are state contractors. In contrast to Ohio, Virginia DMVs are state-owned and run by professional state employees,” Brownlee said.
Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles officials, however, said it is not easier to obtain an identification card there.
“We have very strict statutes and polices in place and we monitor them,” said Lindsay Komlanc, media relations director for the Ohio BMV. “We collect hundreds of fraudulent documents every year.”
On Oct. 3, Brownlee said, Jairo Gomez took the informant and several other illegal immigrants to Ohio, where they stopped at the residence of Jose Gutierrez-Ramirez and Christina Cheatham, in the Columbus area, who told the informant and the illegal immigrants “what to do and how to act when they arrived at the Ohio BMV office.”
The next day, the group went to the BMV, where Gutierrez-Ramirez and Cheatham acted as interpreters, Brownlee said.
“The confidential informant and other illegal aliens left Ohio with all the necessary paperwork to obtain lawful employment in the United States,” Brownlee said.
It’s unclear what the illegal immigrants did when they returned to Virginia.
Those indicted in the case are scheduled for preliminary hearings on March 31 in U.S. District Court in Charlottesville. Two defendants remain at large.
Contact Pete DeLea at 574-6278 or pdelea@dnronline.com
The arrests were part of an alleged multistate conspiracy to obtain and sell identification cards to illegal immigrants, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The government’s undercover operation led to a federal grand jury indictment of eight people last week. Although the indictments were returned Thursday at the U.S. District Court in Roanoke, they weren’t unsealed until Tuesday.
Among the indicted was former Cargill employee Edwin Roberto Mendez, who prosecutors say led three Cargill employees to Ohio to obtain identification fraudulently.
The other people indicted are from Ohio and Puerto Rico.
Mendez, of El Salvador, is a legal permanent resident of the U.S., and has been living in the Harrisonburg area. He was charged with conspiracy, aggravated identification fraud and identity fraud conspiracy. He faces up to 22 years in prison and a $500,000 fine if convicted on all charges.
The four illegal immigrants arrested Tuesday have not been identified or charged, but the government says it plans to deport them. Federal officials wouldn’t say whether the four worked at Cargill.
The plant didn’t shut down during the search and no one was arrested on-site Tuesday, said Mark Klein, director of communications for Cargill.
U.S. Attorney John Brownlee said the case prevented more people from obtaining fraudulent identification to gain employment.
“Enforcing our nation’s immigration laws is one of our highest priorities,” Brownlee said. “Had this conspiracy not been stopped, many more illegal aliens would have obtained identification papers, making it extremely difficult for law enforcement to identify and deport them.”
Cargill Employees Spark Investigation
The investigation started when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained four Guatemalan nationals in August. Three of them were employed at the Cargill facility in Dayton and had authentic Puerto Rican birth certificates, related Social Security cards and Ohio identification cards.
The three said they purchased the documents from Mendez, Brownlee said.
With that information, Brownlee said, ICE used a confidential informant to contact Mendez.
“Mendez sold the confidential informant an authentic Puerto Rican birth certificate and related Social Security card for $600,” Brownlee said. “Mendez had obtained the Puerto Rican documents from defendant Rosado-Rodriguez, who lived in Puerto Rico.”
Mendez told the informant he had been recruiting illegal immigrants who wanted to purchase Puerto Rican documents with matching Social Security cards, Brownlee said.
“Mendez stated that he had been selling the bogus documents for approximately nine years,” Brownlee said. “Mendez advised that since the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Virginia had made it more difficult to obtain authentic state identification documents from its Division of Motor Vehicles.”
Trip To Ohio
Mendez told the informant that they would need to go to Ohio to obtain an identification card, Brownlee said.
The group planned to go to Ohio because, according to Brownlee, it’s easier to use Puerto Rican documents to get identification there than in Virginia.
“The Ohio franchises, headed by a deputy registrar, are state contractors. In contrast to Ohio, Virginia DMVs are state-owned and run by professional state employees,” Brownlee said.
Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles officials, however, said it is not easier to obtain an identification card there.
“We have very strict statutes and polices in place and we monitor them,” said Lindsay Komlanc, media relations director for the Ohio BMV. “We collect hundreds of fraudulent documents every year.”
On Oct. 3, Brownlee said, Jairo Gomez took the informant and several other illegal immigrants to Ohio, where they stopped at the residence of Jose Gutierrez-Ramirez and Christina Cheatham, in the Columbus area, who told the informant and the illegal immigrants “what to do and how to act when they arrived at the Ohio BMV office.”
The next day, the group went to the BMV, where Gutierrez-Ramirez and Cheatham acted as interpreters, Brownlee said.
“The confidential informant and other illegal aliens left Ohio with all the necessary paperwork to obtain lawful employment in the United States,” Brownlee said.
It’s unclear what the illegal immigrants did when they returned to Virginia.
Those indicted in the case are scheduled for preliminary hearings on March 31 in U.S. District Court in Charlottesville. Two defendants remain at large.
Contact Pete DeLea at 574-6278 or pdelea@dnronline.com
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