Used Fraudulent Documents to Apply for a Job after Illegally Entering the United States
A Guatemalan man who unlawfully used fraudulent identification documents was sentenced today to more than three months in federal prison.
Tomas Perez-Cobo, age 34, a citizen of Guatemala residing in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received the prison term after a Jan. 31, 2018, guilty plea to one count of unlawful use of identification documents.
At the guilty plea, Perez-Cobo, an illegal alien, admitted that on Aug. 13, 2017, he used a fraudulent social security card and a fraudulent permanent resident card when completing employment forms to obtain a job in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The social security account number and the immigration number on the cards used by Perez-Cobo were not his. Earlier that year, on Jan. 15, 2017, U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested Perez-Cobo and his minor child in Texas after they illegally entered the United States. On Jan. 16, 2017, Lopez-Morales was released pending immigration proceedings.
Perez-Cobo was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand. Perez-Cobo was sentenced to 98 days’ imprisonment. He must also serve a two-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
Perez-Cobo is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be turned over to immigration officials.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Daniel C. Tvedt and investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations.
Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
The case file number is 17-CR-101-LTS.
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Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
