FREMONT, Neb. – Performing Particular Agent in Cost of Homeland Safety Investigations (HSI) Kansas Metropolis Taekuk Cho and United States Legal professional Steven Russell introduced that Martin Alonzo Castro, 42, of Fremont was sentenced Jan. 6 in federal court docket in Omaha for conspiracy to supply and switch fraudulent paperwork following an HSI and joint regulation enforcement investigation.
Chief United States District Decide Robert F. Rossiter, Jr. sentenced Castro to time served. Castro has been in custody since his arrest, April 14, 2021. There isn’t any parole within the federal system. He was additionally ordered to serve a three-year time period of supervised launch. Castro is anticipated to be deported by U.S. immigration authorities.
Within the spring of 2020, regulation enforcement officers investigating an id theft matter involving using a deceased particular person’s social safety quantity discovered that fraudulent id paperwork may very well be obtained from co-defendant Tomas De La Cruz-Perez.
Over the course of the yr, investigators made a number of purchases of fraudulent paperwork similar to social safety playing cards, state driver’s licenses, and lawful everlasting resident playing cards (I-551s) from De La Cruz-Perez, who was receiving dozens of packages originating in California by U.S. mail. Investigators decided that co-defendant Luis Alberto Castro-Santos, of Pomona, California, was the supply of the fraudulent paperwork mailed to De La Cruz-Perez on the market to clients in Nebraska. Investigators additionally decided that Castro and co-defendant Estuardo Ruiz-Orozco, of Wakefield have been additionally promoting fraudulent paperwork obtained from Castro-Santos in California. Ruiz-Orozco was sentenced to imprisonment for a time period of 24 months, Could 12, 2022. Castro-Santos and De La Cruz-Perez have been sentenced to imprisonment for phrases of 24 months and 15 months, respectively, Oct. 21, 2022.
Investigators deliberate and executed coordinated arrests of the defendants, April 14, 2021. Investigators obtained warrants to look the Nebraska defendants’ residences and automobiles, yielding tons of of counterfeit federal and state id playing cards.
This case was investigated by HSI, america Postal Inspection Service, the Social Safety Administration’s Workplace of Inspector Normal, and the Nebraska Division of Motor Autos.
Be taught extra about HSI’s mission to fight fraud in your group on Twitter @HSIKansasCity.
HSI is a directorate of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the principal investigative arm of the Division of Homeland Safety (DHS), accountable for investigating transnational crime and threats, particularly these prison organizations that exploit the worldwide infrastructure by which worldwide commerce, journey, and finance transfer. HSI’s workforce of over 10,400 staff consists of greater than 6,800 particular brokers assigned to 225 cities all through america, and 93 abroad places in 56 nations. HSI’s worldwide presence represents DHS’s largest investigative regulation enforcement presence overseas and one of many largest worldwide footprints in U.S. regulation enforcement.