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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Wednesday - June 14, 2006

SEVEN MEN IN COUNTERFEIT IMMIGRATION DOCUMENT RING
PLEAD GUILTY

RALEIGH - United States Attorney Frank D. Whitney announced that on Monday, June 12, 2006, in Wilmington, N. C., seven men previously indicted for conspiring to produce and transfer false identification documents, including counterfeit U.S. Permanent Resident cards, U.S. Resident Alien cards, Social Security cards, and state and foreign driver’s licenses, pled guilty. Senior United States District Judge James C. Fox accepted the guilty pleas.

The seven men are ALEJANDRO IZALDE-PETRIS, a/k/a “Yuca”, a/k/a Jorge Lopez Lopez, age 32, JUAN JOSE PAZ-MIRELES, a/k/a “Chino”, a/k/a Roberto Lopez Castro, age 28, EDGAR HUGO CAMPOS-ESCALANTE, a/k/a “Frodo”, age 27, SANTIAGO CASIMIRO LOPEZ, a/k/a “Konan”, age 29, CARLOS OLADE-ESPINDOLA, a/k/a “Chicara”, age 19, FERNANDO MUNOZ-ROSAS, a/k/a “Lag”, age 33, and LUIS MANUEL GONZALEZ-MEDINA, age 22. All are citizens of Mexico, and all are in the United States illegally.

According to the Indictment, the defendants and their co-conspirators operated a well-organized and sophisticated counterfeit document ring in the Raleigh, N. C. area. The defendants’ counterfeit document ring used a system of apartments, a fleet of cars, cellular phones, business cards, and sophisticated equipment and materials to accomplish its goals. According to the Indictment, hundreds of counterfeit identification documents were sold by the defendants.

Sentencing of the seven men is set for the week of September 18, 2006.

Investigation of the case was conducted by the United States Secret Service. Assistant United States Attorney Clay C. Wheeler is in charge of the prosecution.

News releases are available on the U. S. Attorney’s web page at www.usdoj.gov/usao/nce within 48 hours of release.