GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN - U.S. Attorney Patrick Miles announced today that Jaime Velasco-Jimenez, age 37, a citizen of Mexico who most recently resided illegally in Kalamazoo, Michigan, was sentenced to 36 months’ imprisonment today for his role in a counterfeit identification document ring. Velasco-Jimenez is the second of three individuals involved in the ring to be sentenced. Jesus Emmanuel Lopez-Garcia previously received a sentence of 36 months’ imprisonment in August of this year.
Between September, 2013, and March, 2015, Velasco-Jimenez produced hundreds of counterfeit identification documents at his apartments in Plainwell and Kalamazoo, Michigan. Velasco-Jimenez recruited Lopez-Garcia and Victor Hugo Quesada-Pacheco to solicit illegal aliens residing in Kent and Kalamazoo counties in need of counterfeit identification documents. Lopez-Garcia and Quesada-Pacheco provided the names, false social security account numbers, and other false biographical information for their customers to Velasco-Jimenez who then produced counterfeit driver’s licenses, state identification documents, social security account number cards, lawful permanent resident cards, and other false identification documents at his apartment in Kalamazoo. Lopez-Garcia and Quesada-Pacheco then delivered the counterfeit identification documents to their customers and collected a fee that was shared with Velasco-Jimenez.
"The proliferation of counterfeit identity documents can have a rippling effect on all of us because it potentially compromises national security and the integrity of the U.S. immigration system," said Marlon Miller, special agent in charge for HSI Detroit. "HSI will continue to aggressively target the groups who profit from counterfeit identity document schemes."
Velasco-Jimenez forfeited numerous electronic devices and $8,108.00 related to his crime. And he faces removal from the United States. The sentencing hearing for Quesada-Pacheco, the last member of the ring, is scheduled for Sept. 17, 2015, in federal court in Grand Rapids.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ronald M. Stella is prosecuting the case, which has been investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations division in Grand Rapids.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
