Dominican National Sentenced for Trafficking Identities of Puerto Rican U.S. Citizens

BOSTON – A document broker was sentenced today in federal court in Springfield for trafficking the identities of Puerto Rican citizens and corresponding identity documents.

Sandro Tavera Mora, a/k/a Jose Laureano Ayala, 46, a Dominican national, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni to 27 months in prison.  He is also subject to deportation upon completion of his sentence.  On May 4, 2017, Tavera Mora pleaded guilty to false personation of U.S. citizenship, fraud and misuse of visas, and conspiracy to possess and transfer identification documents.

Tavera Mora operated as a document broker in Springfield, buying, possessing, transferring and selling personal identifying information contained in legitimate government documents belonging to residents of Puerto Rico. Tavera Mora admitted that the customers who purchased these documents were illegal aliens who used the information to assume the identity of United States citizens in order to apply for other identity documents. Tavera Mora knew that these customers would use these documents to violate federal law, including Social Security fraud and the impersonation of a United States citizen.

Upon his arrest, Tavera Mora falsely identified himself as “Jose Laureano Ayala,” a U.S. citizen born in Puerto Rico, and possessed a fraudulent Puerto Rico driver’s license and a U.S. Social Security card in the same name. He also possessed a fraudulent Dominican passport that contained a non-immigration U.S. Visa with fraudulent admittance record and a Customs and Border Patrol admittance stamp.

Acting U.S. Attorney William D. Weinreb; Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Thomas D. Homan, Acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; and Guy J. Cottrell, Chief Postal Inspector for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin O’Regan, Chief of Weinreb’s Springfield Branch Office and Trial Attorney Marianne Shelvey of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division prosecuted the case.

Potential victims and the public may obtain information about the case at: www.justice.gov/criminal/vns/caseup/beltrerj.html. Anyone who believes their identity may have been compromised in relation to this investigation may contact the ICE toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2ICE (1-866-347-2423) and its online tip form at www.ice.gov/tipline. Anyone who may have information about particular crimes in this case should also report it to the ICE tip line or website.