FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC or
MARCIA MURPHY at 410-209-4885
AUGUST 16, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ILLEGAL ALIEN SENTENCED TO 2 ½ YEARS FOR PASSPORT FRAUD AND
AGGRAVATED IDENTITY THEFT
Baltimore, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett sentenced Jose Nicholas Perez-Martinez, age 45, today to 30 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for false statements in application for and use of a passport and aggravated identity theft, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein.
According to his guilty plea, on July 21, 1997, Perez-Martinez, a native of the Dominican Republic, applied for a United States Passport in the name of a citizen of the United States born in Puerto Rico, falsely providing that person’s name, social security number and date of birth, as well as providing a copy of that person’s birth certificate as evidence of citizenship to obtain the passport. Perez-Martinez used the fraudulently obtained passport to travel to and from the United States and for identification, until his arrest by agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on January 29, 2007.
In addition, on April 26, 1997, Perez-Martinez used the name, social security number and date of birth of that person to obtain a Maryland Driver’s License bearing the name and other personal identifiers of that person, but with Perez-Martinez’s picture, which he renewed in 2001 and 2005.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for their investigative work, and commended Assistant United States Attorney Tamera Fine, who prosecuted the case.