Portland, Maine: United States Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II announced that Roman
Garcia-Lopez, also known as Romeo Bartalon, 57, a Mexican citizen who formerly lived in
Portland, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court by Judge Nancy Torresen to 10 months
imprisonment for conspiring to produce and transfer false Permanent Resident cards and Social
Security cards. Garcia-Lopez pleaded guilty to the charge on Sept. 25, 2013.
According to court records, Garcia-Lopez sold false Permanent Resident cards and Social
Security cards to individuals in the Portland area who were in the United States illegally.
Individuals seeking to buy the false documents would provide biographical information, and
Garcia-Lopez would take their photograph with his telephone and forward the picture and the
information to another individual who actually created the fraudulent documents. The documents
would later arrive in Maine via the U.S. Postal Service from the Atlanta, Georgia area.
It was disclosed during the sentencing hearing that Garcia-Lopez was ordered removed
from the United States in 1997 but remained in the country. Judge Torresen ordered that after
Garcia-Lopez completes serving his sentence, he is to be turned over to immigration authorities
for removal proceedings.
The investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s
Homeland Security Investigations.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
