FRESNO, Calif. - A federal grand jury returned a 16-count indictment today charging six Mexican nationals with conspiracy, transferring false identification documents, possessing document-making implements, and fraud and misuse of alien registration receipt cards, Acting United States Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.
According to court documents, between June 2015 and June 17, 2016, Angelica Moreno-Velasquez, 31; Maria Victoria Perez‑Vasquez, 30; Francisco Javier Hidalgo-Flores, 25; Lizet Amairani Ramirez-Zazueta, 26, and Veronica Rosales-Capitaine, 49, all of Fresno, and Fidel Vasquez-Velasquez, 22, of Madera, conspired to possess, transfer, and sell false U.S. social security cards and alien registration cards in Fresno and Madera County. The defendants are scheduled to be arraigned at 2:00 pm today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Stanley A. Boone.
According to court documents, Vasquez-Velasquez, Hidalgo-Flores and Rosales‑Capitaine manufactured fraudulent identification documents, including social security cards and alien registration receipt cards. Vasquez-Velasquez, Hidalgo-Flores and Perez-Vasquez took orders, photographs and biographical information from customers, and delivered the completed fraudulent identification documents to the customers, charging between $80 and $150 for one set. Moreno-Velasquez and Ramirez-Zazueta also delivered fraudulent identification documents to customers and other co-conspirators.
This case is the product of an investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Assistant United States Attorney Christopher D. Baker is prosecuting the case.
If convicted, the maximum statutory penalty for transferring false identification documents or possessing document-making implements is 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine; the maximum statutory penalty for fraud and misuse of alien registration receipt cards is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, and the maximum statutory penalty for the conspiracy charge is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. The charges are only allegations; the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
