Skip to main content
Press Release

Dominican National Charged with Identity Fraud

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts
Defendant previously deported on four occasions

BOSTON – A federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment last week bringing additional charges against a Dominical national who was previously indicted for unlawfully reentering the United States after being deported.

Pedro Wilson Hernandez-Castillo, 49, was charged in a superseding indictment on one count of false representation of a Social Security number and one count of aggravated identity theft. Hernandez-Castillo was arrested and charged in June 2020 with unlawful reentry of a deported alien and has been in custody since that time. Hernandez-Castillo was previously indicted on Dec. 30, 2020.   

According to the charging documents, on June 15, 2020, Hernandez-Castillo was stopped by a state trooper while driving and asked to provide his identification. The defendant provided the driver’s license and Social Security card of another individual. After determining that Hernandez-Castillo provided false information, the state trooper arrested Hernandez-Castillo.

According to court documents, Hernandez-Castillo illegally re-entered the United States after being deported in August 2018, following a conviction for possession with intent to distribute cocaine and heroin. Hernandez-Castillo was removed from the United States on three previous occasions: August 2011, July 2000 and January 1999. 

The charge of false representation of a Social Security number provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. The charge of unlawful reentry after deportation provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. The charge of aggravated identity theft provides for a mandatory two-year prison sentence that must run consecutively to any other sentence imposed, up to one year of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Todd Lyons, Field Office Director, Enforcement and Removal Operations, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Boston; and William S. Walker, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston made the announcement. Valuable assistance was also provided by the Massachusetts State Police. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lucy Sun of Lelling’s Worcester Branch Office is prosecuting the case.

The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Updated February 16, 2021

Topic
Identity Theft