TRENTON, N.J. - A Dominican Republic national was sentenced today to 32 months in prison for illegally using the identity of another person to fraudulently obtain a U.S. passport, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.
Arnaldo Antonio Medrano Bonilla, 56, of the Dominican Republic, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan to an information charging him with one count of passport fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. Judge Sheridan imposed the sentence by videoconference today.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
In August 2015, Medrano submitted a fraudulent renewal application for a U.S. passport, listing the name, birth date, and Social Security number of a U.S. citizen, but providing his own photograph. Medrano presented that U.S. citizen’s birth certificate in further support of his fraudulent application. In this way, Medrano unlawfully obtained a U.S. passport bearing his own photograph and the identity of another person.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Sheridan sentenced Medrano to three years of supervised release.
U.S. Attorney Carpenito credited special agents of the U.S. Department of State, Diplomatic Security Service, New York Field Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Keith Byrne, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Trombly of the Cybercrime Unit in Newark.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
