Ecuadorian National Formerly Residing in Waterbury Pleads Guilty to Passport Fraud

Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced MANUEL ANTONIO GUAMAN, 33, formerly of Waterbury, waived his right to indictment and pleaded guilty yesterday before U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford to one count of use of a passport secured by false statement and one count of making a false statement in a passport application. 

According to court documents and statements made in court, GUAMAN is a native and citizen of Ecuador.  On or about August 2, 2006, he submitted in person an application for a United States passport, in the name of another individual, at a U.S. Post Office in Waterbury.  Claiming to be this individual, GUAMAN presented to the passport acceptance agent a Puerto Rican birth certificate and a Connecticut identity card.  Neither the birth certificate nor the identity card reflected GUAMAN’s true identity.  GUAMAN signed the passport application under oath claiming to be this other individual.  The passport was issued and used by GUAMAN to travel between the U.S. and Ecuador in 2012.

On October 23, 2014, GUAMAN submitted a passport renewal application, and provided the previous passport as proof of his identity and U.S. citizenship.  On December 31, 2015, after conducting an investigation, law enforcement interviewed GUAMAN while he was incarcerated in a state Department of Correction facility.  He admitted that he had submitted and signed the above-referenced passport renewal application, that it was his photo on the passport application, and that he was not the person whom he had claimed to be in the passport application. 

GUAMAN is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Shea on October 4, 2016.  He faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years on each count.  He is currently serving a state sentence for assault in the first degree.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Chen.