A Mexican citizen who was twice convicted using the identity of a dead American citizen who attempted to obtain new identification documents and gain employment in that name plead guilty May 7, 2014, in federal court in Cedar Rapids.
Abel Fajardo-Guizar, age 38, a citizen of Mexico, living in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was convicted of two counts of unlawful use of identification documents and two counts of aggravated identity theft.
In a plea agreement, Fajardo-Guizar admitted he was twice convicted under the name of another real person who died in 1995. On Nov. 22, 2013, falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen, Fajardo-Guizar used the date of birth, the Social Security Card and Social Security Number of another real person, someone he personally knew, to obtain a State of Iowa Identification Card in that person’s name. On Dec. 18, 2013, again falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen, Fajardo-Guizar used the date of birth, the Social Security Card and Social Security Number of another real person, and the recently acquired State of Iowa Identification Card when completing forms required to work in this country. On March 1, 2014, Fajardo-Guizar attempted to obtain a State of Iowa driver’s license using that the name, date of birth and Social Security Number of that other real person. When arrested on Federal charges on March 19, 2014, defendant had in his possession that other person’s birth certificate.
Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Fajardo-Guizar remains in custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing. On each unlawful use of identification documents conviction, Fajardo-Guizar faces a possible maximum sentence of ten years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, $100 in special assessments, and three years of supervised release following any imprisonment. On each aggravated identity theft conviction, Fajardo-Guizar faces a mandatory sentence of two years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, $100 in special assessments, and one year of supervised release following any imprisonment. Any sentence on the aggravated identity theft convictions must be served consecutive to any other sentence.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Daniel C. Tvedt and was investigated by agents from the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is 14-CR-38.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
