Mexican National Pleads Guilty To Making False Statement To Obtain A U.S. Passport

BOISE – Lorena Torres-Flores, 39, a Mexican national formerly living in Jerome, Idaho, pleaded guilty today in United States District Court to one count of making a false statement in an application for a passport, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced.

According to the plea agreement, on September 13, 2010, Torres-Flores filed an application for a United States passport in Jerome. The passport application falsely identified Torres-Flores as another individual, and included that individual’s date of birth, social security number and parental information. At the time that Torres-Flores filed the passport application, she intended to obtain a United States passport in the name of the individual, a lawful United States citizen.

On August 29, 2012, a special agent with the U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Security Service interviewed Torres-Flores at her Jerome residence. Torres-Flores subsequently admitted that she filed the passport application using the identity of another individual, her true name was Lorena Clara Torres-Flores, and she was born in Mexico. She further admitted that she attempted to obtain a passport to travel to Mexico and return to the United States.

Torres-Flores faces up to ten years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000, and up to three years of supervised release.

Sentencing is set for October 15, 2013, before U.S. District Judge Robert J. Bryan at the James A. McClure United States Courthouse and Federal Building, in Boise.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Security Service.