Passport Fraudster Sentenced to 42 Months in Prison

Baltimore, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced Leavitt Rodriguez, a/k/a Jose Luis Rosario Colon, age 29, a citizen of the Dominican Republic in the U.S. illegally, today to 42 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for two counts each of passport fraud and aggravated identity theft.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein and Special Agent in Charge John Schilling of the Washington Field Office of the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service.

According to evidence presented at Rodriguez’s three day trial, Leavitt Rodriguez, who also uses the alias Jose Luis Rosario Colon, twice applied for a United States passport in the name of Jason Anthony Bell, once on June 9, 2006, and again on December 6, 2009. Both times he submitted the applications at the United States Post Office in Hagerstown, Maryland. Witnesses testified that Jason Bell died on June 29, 2009, and that Rodriguez was a friend of Bell’s who had attended Bell’s funeral. Testimony also showed that Rodriguez had purchased Bell’s social security card from him in 2004 or 2005. A family member of Rodriguez also testified as to his true identity and that he was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service for its work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorneys Leo J. Wise and Judson T. Mihok, who prosecuted the case.