Conspirators across Puerto Rico and the continental United States stole the identities of Puerto Rican U.S. citizens and then sold the documents — such as Social Security cards and birth certificates — to illegal immigrants, the Department of Justice and U.S. immigration officials announced today.
The fraud ring was indicted December 29th, 2011, with “traffick[ing] the identities of Puerto Rican U.S. citizens, corresponding Social Security cards, Puerto Rico birth certificates and other identification documents to undocumented aliens and others residing in the United States,” according to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This consipracy has operated at least since April of 2009.
The documents could be purchased for “prices ranging from $700 to $2500 per set,” ICE charges.
“We believe hundreds and hundreds of identifications [were sold],” Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer told reporters on a conference call today. ICE Director John Morton noted on the same call that this 50-person indictment marks one of the three largest indictments handed down regarding identity fraud. Two smaller indictments were handed down in two states, to bring the approximate total of identity fraud conspirators to 70.
Breuer said that law enforcement officials “kept a keen eye” on the possibility that this fraud ring could be exploited by terrorists, but he told The Washington Examiner during the call that “there’s no evidence in this case to suggest that those issues came to play.”
