United States Attorney's Office District of Connecticut
Press Release

NEW YORK RESIDENT WHO USED FALSE
IDENTITY TO APPLY FOR PASSPORT IS SENTENCED

David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that KARYNA YOLANDA ORDONEZ, also known as “Lara Monserrate Valentin” and “Martha Alvarado Diaz,” 39, of New York, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant in Hartford to three years of probation for passport fraud.

According to court documents and statements made in court, in March 2007, ORDONEZ, a United States citizen, applied for a U.S. passport in the Norwalk, Connecticut Passport Office using the name “Lara Monserrate Valentin,” which was not her true identity.  At the time, ORDONEZ also presented false documents with the false identity, including a credit card, a Puerto Rican birth certificate, a Connecticut driver’s identification card and a federal and state tax return.  After being confronted with the fact that the supporting documents were fraudulent, ORDONEZ admitted that she knowingly used a false name, and then falsely represented to an agent of the U.S. State Department that her true name was “Martha Diaz.”

On November 20, 2006, ORDONEZ was sentenced in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia to 21 months of imprisonment for credit card fraud.  In March 2007, she fraudulently applied for the U.S. passport in Connecticut after failing to report to prison to serve her 21-month sentence.  ORDONEZ was subsequently charged with, and convicted of, failing to appear for service of her federal sentence and was sentenced to an additional 21 months of imprisonment.  She was released from the custody of the Bureau of Prisons in April 2010.

On December 8, 2010, ORDONEZ pleaded guilty to one count of making a false statement in an application for a United States passport.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security.  The case was prosecuted by Richard J. Schechter, Senior Litigation Counsel.

CONTACT:

U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Tom Carson
(203) 821-3722
thomas.carson@usdoj.gov