Austin man charged with forgery (Austin Post-Bulletin)

Austin man charged with forgery
2/13/2010 7:10:05 AM
By Tim Ruzek
The Post-Bulletin, Austin MN

A supervisor at Quality Pork Processors in Austin appeared in court Thursday on felony charges related to working under a false identity.

Juan Pablo Santiago-Estrada, 26, is charged in Mower District Court with three counts of aggravated forgery for allegedly using a false U.S. Social Security card and fraudulent state IDcards for Minnesota and Nebraska.

Santiago-Estrada, 2009 Second Ave. S.E., pleaded not guilty in his initial hearing and remains in jail under a detention order by the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement, records show.

A pretrial hearing was scheduled for March 26.

According to the criminal complaint, a QPPofficial contacted Austin police in summer because he suspected one of the plant's supervisors was working under the alias Rogelio Lopez. The official told police he believed Lopez was Juan Santiago-Estrada.

The QPPofficial told police the supervisor had a brother who also worked at QPP under the name Anthony Mehilic who was deported recently. Santiago-Estrada, however, denied he was working under an alias.

Police found the "Lopez" alias had a criminal record dating back to June 2002, including an arrest in 2004 for an assault in which the victim identified his assailant as Pablo Santiago-Estrada, whom he claimed was working at QPPunder an assumed name, the complaint says.

In 2006, Austin police arrested "Lopez" for possessing a small amount of cocaine during a traffic stop. During a presentence investigation for that case, "Lopez" told officials he was born in Texas, the complaint says.

In fall 2009, police obtained the QPP application for "Lopez" from 2002 in which he used a Nebraska ID card and Social Security card to get employment. Among his references in the application was a Michael Lee Spencer, the alias for Federico Guerrero-Hernandez, who was convicted in a 2008 felony forgery case in Mower County.

On Feb. 5, police arrested "Lopez" for assaulting a woman; both he and the woman used the Lopez name with police, the complaint says.

Authorities learned the Social Security number for "Lopez" was being used in Texas and Minnesota.

Austin police then went to QPP to speak with "Lopez" and confront him with his alleged alias.

Santiago-Estrada declined to speak with police but, when booked into the jail, he allegedly gave his true birthday and admitted he was born in Mexico and is not a U.S. citizen.

Police reported finding money order receipts in Santiago-Estrada's true name in his wallet along with his false IDs.