BIRMINGHAM -- A federal grand jury today indicted five men in connection with the production and distribution of counterfeit Social Security and Permanent Resident Alien cards in three Alabama counties, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Raymond R. Parmer Jr.
The men are charged in three separate indictments filed in U.S. District Court.
PEDRO MONTANEZ-MENDEZ, 39, is charged with providing counterfeit Social Security and Permanent Resident cards to three people in Calhoun County between Feb. 18 and March 26. Montanez-Mendez also is charged with illegally re-entering the United States after previously having been deported.
AMANCIO GONZALEZ-PEREZ, 44, of Tuscaloosa, is charged with transferring counterfeit Social Security and Permanent Resident cards to two individuals in Tuscaloosa on Feb. 5. He is charged with producing and transferring Social Security and Resident cards to a third individual on Feb. 26 in Tuscaloosa, and another set to a fourth individual in March.
Gonzalez-Perez and a co-defendant, ROBERTO ZAMUDIO-SANCHEZ, 25, of Tuscaloosa, face one count of possessing document-making implements on April 23, with the intent to produce counterfeit identification documents.
A third indictment charges EUTIQUIO FRANCO-IBARRA, 25, and JUAN BENITEZ-PACHECO, 33, both of Albertville, with counterfeiting the government identification documents in Marshal County.
Franco-Ibarra is charged with producing, and Benitez-Pacheco with transferring, counterfeit Social Security and Permanent Resident cards to an individual in Marshal County on Feb. 4.
Franco-Ibarra also is charged with transferring a false Social Security card to a second individual on Feb. 27, and Benitez-Pacheco is charged with providing both a Social Security and a Permanent Resident card to a third individual on March 27. Both men are charged with possessing document-making implements on April 22.
Benitez-Pacheco also is charged with illegally re-entering the United States after previously having been deported.
Homeland Security Investigations investigated the cases, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa K. Atwood is prosecuting.
The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges. It is the government's responsibility to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
