Latest Legal News from the Criminal Courts in Houston, Texas

May 30, 2007

16 CONVICTED FOR ROLE IN CONSPIRACY TO SELL VALID IDENTIFICATION DOCUMENTS TO ILLEGAL ALIENS SENTENCED

(CORPUS CHRISTI, TX) -- Sixteen persons involved in a scheme to buy and sell valid identification documents for further sale to illegal aliens have been sentenced, United States Attorney Don DeGabrielle announced today.

On January 24, 2007, a 10-count federal indictment was returned against sixteen persons charging each with conspiring to commit and committing document fraud arising from a scheme in which some defendants sold their own valid social security cards and birth certificates and that of others to co-conspirators for as little as $100 a set. The valid identification documents were then shipped to others in the Dodge City, Kansas area. Once received the documents were re-sold to illegal aliens for as much as $700 a set. The aliens then used the documents to obtain employment at numerous meat packing plants in Dodge City and other locations. The indictment alleged this scheme operated for a period of five years beginning in January 2001 through December 2006.

Fourteen of the sixteen charged in this case were convicted on Monday, Feb. 26, 2007, after pleading guilty to the felony conspiracy charge. Jacobo Campa-Esparza, 42, a Mexican legal permanent resident alien from Dodge City, Kansas, who operated as a leader in the scheme and distributor of the purchased valid identification documents, was convicted on March 1, 2007 after pleading guilty to conspiracy and document fraud charges. The sixteenth and final defendant, Guadalupe Suarez, age unknown, pled guilty to the same offense on March 21, 2007.

On Friday, May 25, 2007, all of the defendants were sentenced by United States District Judge Hayden Head. Jacobo Campa-Esparza was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison, without parole to be followed by a 3 year term of supervised release. Ofelia Quintana Zavala, 36, a Mexican national who resided in Dodge City, Kansas, and operated as a distributor in this organized effort to buy and sell identification documents, was sentenced to 36 months in federal prison. Four others -- Joe Anthony Benavides, 29; Joe Ray Benavides, 28; and Marta Angelica Fuentes, 27, all of Beeville, Texas, and Felix Moya, 37, of Sinton, Texas, all middlemen in the scheme who shipped identification documents to Kansas to other distributors, were also sentenced on May 25. Joe Anthony Benavides and Joe Ray Benavides were each sentenced to 10 months in prison to be followed by a 3 year term of supervised release. Marta Fuentes will be serving 15 months in prison also to be followed by a 3 year term of supervised release. Felix Moya was sentenced to 22 months in federal prison with a similar 3 year term of supervised release to follow.

Bobby Joe Flores, 22, of Corpus Christi, Texas, and Francisco Hiracheta Jr., 40, of Sinton, Texas were each sentenced to 51 months in federal prison. Hector Aldava-Hidalgo, 33, Dodge City, Kansas, was sentenced to 27 months in prison. Elia Vega Estrella, 38, of Dodge City, Kansas, a Mexican national, and Juan Manuel Hernandez, 32, of Corpus Christi, were each sentenced to 18 months in prison. Guadalupe Suarez was sentenced to 14 months in prison. All of these defendants were also ordered to serve 3 year terms of supervised release following the completion of their sentences.

Jose Roberto Hernandez, 27, of Falfurrias, Texas, was ordered to serve an 8 month sentence – four months in prison and four months of home confinement – to be followed by a three year term of supervised release. Jose Florencio Arrviso Jr., 25, Beeville, Texas, was sentence to four months in prison and fined $500.

Margarita Lopez-Moya, 68, San Patricio, Texas, and Rosie Medellin, 22, of Taft, Texas, were ordered to serve probationary terms of 5 and 4 years, respectively, during which each must perform a specified number of hours of community service.

The investigation leading to the charges in this case was initiated by federal agents in 2001. Agents discovered that residents of South Texas, many in the Beeville, Corpus Christi and the surrounding area, were recruited to sell their own identification documents for $100 per set. Some sold them more than once. In November 2006, an undercover officer, posing as an illegal alien, bought valid identification documents in Dodge City, Kansas. Agents estimate thousands of documents were traded during course of this conspiracy. Some of those documents have been seized. Additionally, agents have reason to believe that hundreds of thousands of dollars has been wired to other persons in the Corpus Christi, Texas area from subjects in Kansas. The investigation continues.

 

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