SAN ANTONIO – Two males had been arrested Oct. 12 for his or her alleged involvement in an legal professional impersonation scheme following an investigation carried out by Homeland Safety Investigations (HSI).
Jose Maria Guerrero, 68, and Rodolfo Solis Zepeda, 75, each from San Antonio, had been arrested and charged with one rely of conspiracy to defraud america and 5 counts of false statements.
In response to court docket paperwork, starting in December 2019, Guerrero and Solis-Zepeda devised a scheme to have Guerrero, who isn’t a licensed legal professional, impersonate Zepeda, who’s a licensed legal professional, in telephonic immigration court docket hearings. Guerrero was previously a Texas-licensed legal professional who resigned from the State bar of Texas in lieu of disciplinary actions in 2016. Zepeda, or one among his staff, gave Zepeda’s legislation agency’s enterprise cellphone quantity to the immigration court docket to be used throughout the telephonic hearings. The decision from the immigration court docket was then forwarded to Guerrero’s private mobile phone. Guerrero would declare to be Zepeda and proceed with the listening to. HSI brokers recognized a minimum of 100 completely different events the place Guerrero appeared as Zepeda earlier than immigration courts.
A federal district court docket decide will decide their sentence after contemplating the U.S. sentencing tips and different statutory components. If convicted, the defendants resist 5 years in jail on every of the six counts.
Assistant U.S. Legal professional Justin Chung, Western District of Texas, is prosecuting the case.
For extra information and knowledge on HSI San Antonio’s efforts to aggressively examine doc and profit fraud comply with us on Twitter: @HSI_SanAntonio.
HSI is a directorate of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the principal investigative arm of the U.S. Division of Homeland Safety (DHS), accountable for investigating transnational crime and threats, particularly these prison organizations that exploit the worldwide infrastructure by means of 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 86 abroad places in 55 international locations. HSI’s worldwide presence represents DHS’s largest investigative legislation enforcement presence overseas and one of many largest worldwide footprints in U.S. legislation enforcement.
An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed harmless till confirmed responsible past an inexpensive doubt in a court docket of legislation.